Chabane trial: the prosecution calls for a prison sentence for the former president of Sco d’Angers

Three years in prison, including one with a simple suspended sentence, were requested Tuesday before the Angers criminal court against Saïd Chabane, former president and current owner of the Angers football club (L2), whom seven women accuse of sexual assault. “Each described intolerable actions,” committed by the ex-president of the club, denounced prosecutor Éric Bouillard, who also requested a deferred committal warrant. The magistrate also pointed out the “demolition enterprise” carried out by the defense.

Since the complaint was filed, “I was told that I was corrupt, a liar, that I was looking for light,” the first woman to have accused Mr. Chabane, in January 2020, told the court on Tuesday. does not file a complaint against his employer, while being on duty, for pleasure. I filed a complaint to denounce unacceptable, intolerable, disrespectful behavior,” she added.

Six other women, employees of the Angers SCO or Mr. Chabane's charcuterie company, filed a complaint immediately, for acts spanning from 2014 to 2019. “You have here a man who does not consider women as his equal. Here you have a man who, like others, thinks that everything is permitted to him with women,” argued Me Guillaume Sergent, lawyer for the civil party, during his pleading, in a courtroom that remained packed during the two days of trial.

The defendant, tried for sexual assault “committed by a person abusing the authority conferred on him by his position”, denies all of the facts with which he is accused. The defense sees in the case a “file of statements”, without “elements of expertise which would consolidate one side or the other”. Of the 17 witnesses heard, “not one was cited” by the civil parties, Mr Pascal Rouiller, lawyer for Saïd Chabane, told AFP.

During the trial, five complainants told the witness box of unwanted hugs, touching of the chest and buttocks or hands guided towards the defendant's crotch. “We have facts which, when confronted, are strangely similar, including between victims who do not know each other. We are not dealing with a victim, we are dealing with patterns that reproduce themselves. It’s a simple observation. Do you want to say something?” asked the president, Catherine Menardais, on Tuesday morning. “No, Madam President,” he replied.

Several defense witnesses, including employees of SCO and its company, claimed that they had never been aware of such facts. “Our exchanges have always been cordial and respectful (...) He is someone I appreciate,” said an employee of Saïd Chabane’s company, who meets him “two to six times a year during business meetings. “No one came to tell me ‘I am a victim of sexual assault’,” said a sales director, who then recounted the “tsunami” experienced when the affair was revealed in early 2020, affirming that customers had told them then “turned his back”.

Monday morning, Saïd Chabane denounced at the bar an “insignificant presumption of innocence” in this case, saying he was “convicted since February 2020” and, the date of his indictment. Owner of the club since 2011, Saïd Chabane described himself as a man who “started from scratch,” a “directive” and “demanding” boss but who never maintained a “dominant” relationship with his employees.

Entangled in a succession of businesses and a catastrophic sporting situation, he gave up his place as president of the club to his son Romain in March 2023. Saïd Chabane was one of the main actors in the spectacular recovery of Angers on a sporting level including a return to L1 in 2015. Relegated at the end of the 2022/2023 season, the SCO has raised the bar. At the top of Ligue 2 after 18 days, he is one of the favorites for promotion to Ligue 1 in May. The trial is scheduled to end Tuesday evening.