Sofiane Bennacer case: the examining magistrate challenged

The Mulhouse investigating judge, who was leading the investigation after accusations of rape and violence against actor Sofiane Bennacer, was challenged by the Colmar court of appeal, AFP learned on Saturday, confirming a information from the Republican East. The actor, revelation of Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi's latest film, Les Amandiers, was indicted in October for acts of alleged rape on two former companions and for violence on a third. He disputes these accusations.

In April, he had requested before the Court of Appeal of Colmar the recusal of the examining magistrate in charge of the file. In her order issued on June 5, the first president of the Court of Appeal considered that certain remarks made by the magistrate to witnesses were "incompatible with the requirements of impartiality which weigh on the investigating judge", and the therefore challenged.

The file must be entrusted to another investigating judge. This decision has no immediate impact on the indictment of Sofiane Bennacer. Solicited, the actor's lawyers, Vincent Desry and François Artuphel, "took note of the decision", but made no comment.

Sofiane Bennacer was one of the actors selected in mid-November as "emerging talent" by the Revelations Committee of the Académie des César, before it finally decided to remove his name from the list, "out of respect for the alleged victims".

"I am innocent. (…) Does the presumption of innocence still exist?”, protested the actor in a message posted on Instagram. “Are we in a state of lawlessness, a state where the simple baseless accusation can destroy a life?” he asked.