The Moroccan Association for Victims’ Rights (AMDV) urged, on Saturday in Rabat, the French justice system to show impartiality and greater involvement in the case of Jacques Bouthier, the former CEO of the Assu group. 2000, released under judicial supervision in a case of sexual crimes perpetrated in France and Morocco, by a French court.
“The release on bail of Jacques Bouthier betrays a certain lack of commitment by French justice towards the most legitimate rights of victims in France and Morocco”, declared Aïcha Guellaa, lawyer and president of the AMDV, during a conference under the theme “the political and media instrumentalization of victims of sexual assault accentuates their suffering”.
The provisional release of the French billionaire and businessman, indicted in 2022 in Paris, is an “unjust” decision which aggravates intolerably the suffering of the victims, insisted on underlining Me Guellaa, who assists Moroccan plaintiffs in that case.
“It’s shocking for the victims who are supposed to be protected as a priority by justice,” said Me Guellaa, stressing that this case is a “serious test” for the French judicial system.
“It is unacceptable that French justice has granted provisional release to Bouthier, on the grounds of his mental disorders, despite all the horrors he has perpetrated (…). “Is it normal that a CEO who, until his arrest, brilliantly ensured the complex and strategic management of a large insurance company, is suddenly seized with dementia? “, she wondered.
Me Guellaa said he hoped that French justice would show the same audacity as its Moroccan counterpart and draw inspiration from the foresight of the latter in the handling of this case.
Imprisoned for rape of minors and human trafficking in Paris, Jacques Bouthier is accused of sexual harassment by six young women in Tangier.