A woman accuses the writer Gabriel Matzneff of having raped her when she was just a child. His testimony led to the opening of an investigation into “rape of a minor under the age of 15”. What facts does she denounce?
Gabriel Matzneff targeted by new rape accusations. These accusations revealed this Thursday, November 23 by RMC led to the opening of a preliminary investigation for "rape of a minor under the age of 15" by the Paris prosecutor's office on October 23. She is a woman in her fifties, adopted daughter of a close friend of the writer who claims to have been the victim of rape and sexual assault between 1977 and 1987. According to her chronology, the facts would have occurred when she was between 4 and 13 years old.
The facts denounced are now prescribed, but the accuser will be heard "in order to be able to specify the alleged facts" indicated the Paris prosecutor's office to RMC: "The investigations will relate both to their characterization and qualification and to the deadlines for prescription in view of their seniority". The complainant says she found the courage to testify after the release of the film Le Consentement, adapted from the eponymous book, which relates the relationship under influence that Vanessa Springora had with the writer when she was 14 years old. These facts led to the opening of the first investigation into rape of a minor targeting Gabriel Matzneff, in 2020.
The woman who accuses Gabriel Matzneff of rape wished to remain anonymous, but detailed her accusations in a letter addressed to the Paris prosecutor's office on October 10. In this letter, consulted by RMC and AFP, the complainant denounces rapes and assaults which were allegedly committed in "social and influential circles, within which some of their members shared a certain idea of pedophilia , or even shared a certain practice of it. The alleged acts took place in part at the family home according to the testimony of the fifty-year-old. His lawyer Rodolphe Costantino also believes that “we can speak of family complicity”.
The father of the complainant would have played a certain role during these attacks according to the lawyers of the author of the letter. The latter says she found “hidden” documents in her father’s personal belongings after the man was admitted to a nursing home in 2020, including correspondence with Gabriel Matzneff. But above all, she claims to have recorded "a dialogue with her adoptive father" before the latter died. And during the discussion, the man would have “[testified] and [confessed] facts of which he himself and some of his friends, including Gabriel Matzneff, were the authors” after having made “an apology for these facts” , according to the letter sent to the prosecution.
The complainant who accuses Gabriel Matzneff of rape also claims to have witnessed sexual violence committed against other victims. She would be "an eyewitness to sexual abuse, rape, committed by Gabriel Matzneff and others on three children, also adopted, by families from the same background" according to the details of her lawyer Me Costantino at the AFP. According to him, some of these facts have not yet been prescribed. The accuser's testimony could therefore lead other potential victims to report sexual violence.
