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CRIME

Woman in baby-killing probe is released

A French mother charged with killing eight of her newborns was released from prison Thursday under court supervision, according to a judicial source.

Published: 3 August 2012 09:27 CEST

The source said Dominique Cottrez was released without an electronic bracelet and is required to continue with the mental and psychiatric care she

was undergoing while detained.

Details on the reasons for her release were not immediately available.

The former nursing assistant had been in custody since her newborns' bodies were found hidden in the quiet village of Villers-au-Tertre in northern France
in July 2010.

She was charged with multiple murders after she admitted to smothering the babies in what is considered the worst case of infanticide in recent French
history.

Cottrez told an investigating judge last year that her father, who died in 2007, raped her between the ages of eight and 14, as well as several times
after she was married, and that she feared the babies were his.

She said she had killed the babies because she did not want doctors to find out they were her father's.

Last October, investigators ruled that the statute of limitations had not expired, even though a toxicological expert concluded that at least seven of
the eight babies had been born more than 10 years before their bodies were found.

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CRIME

French parliament to investigate sexual abuse in cinema

The French parliament on Thursday agreed to create a commission of inquiry to investigate sexual and gender-based violence in cinema and other cultural sectors after several recent allegations.

Published: 2 May 2024 12:25 CEST
French parliament to investigate sexual abuse in cinema

The Assemblée nationale unanimously agreed to set up the commission demanded by actor Judith Godreche in a speech to the upper house, the Senate, in February.

The 52-year-old actor and director has become a key figure in France’s MeToo movement since accusing directors Benoit Jacquot and Jacques Doillon of sexually assaulting her when she was a teenager. Both have denied the allegations.

All 52 lawmakers present for the vote on Thursday approved the creation of the commission, watched by Godreche, who was present in the public gallery in the chamber.

“It’s time to stop laying out the red carpet for abusers,” said Greens lawmaker Francesca Pasquini.

The new commission is to look into “the condition of minors in the various sectors of cinema, television, theatre, fashion and advertising”, as well as that of adults working in them, it said.

On the basis of Godreche’s proposal, a parliamentary commission on culture decided to extend the scope of the inquiry to also include other cultural sectors.

It is to “identify the mechanisms and failings that allow these potential abuses and violences”, “establish responsibilities” and make recommendations.

The parliament vote comes a day after actor Isild Le Besco, 41, said in an autobiography she was also raped by Jacquot during a relationship that started when she was 16, but was not ready to press charges.

Godreche, by contrast, has filed a legal complaint against the prominent arthouse director, over alleged abuse that occurred during a relationship that began when she was 14 and he was 25 years her senior.

She has also formally accused Doillon of abusing her as a 15-year-old actress in a film he directed.

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