Women alleging rape and sexual assault in France call to abolish statute of limitations

A group of women in France who have alleged sexual assault or rape are calling for the removal of the statute of limitations in criminal cases, which they say prevents them from seeking justice.

More than 50 women accused of sexual assault and rape by men, including Jeffrey Epstein, his former business partner and model agent Jean-Luc Brunel, and billionaire businessman Mohammed Al Fayed, came together for the first time to demand changes in French laws.

There is currently a 20-year statute of limitations for adults who want to report sexual assault or rape to French authorities; If they are minors, there is a statute of limitations of 30 years from the date of the crime.

The women, who form a collective called Voices of Survivors, told a press conference that restrictions on reporting assaults made them feel like their cases “didn’t matter just because of the date it occurred.”

“Rape does not expire, trauma does not expire,” Thysia Husiman said.

She claims she was raped by modeling agent Jean-Luc Brunel in Paris when she was 18.

He was found hanged in his cell in La Santé prison in 2022, while he was being held on suspicion of rape of minors and trafficking of minors for sexual exploitation.

Former BBC producer Lisa Brinkworth, who claims she was sexually assaulted while working undercover to expose Elite Model Management boss Gerald Marie’s abuse in the fashion industry, has announced she is taking her case to the European Court of Human Rights.

In 1998 she posed as a model in a documentary for the BBC’s Donal McIntyre Investigates series but reported her allegation to police in 2021.

The case against Marie was dismissed because the 20-year statute of limitations had expired in France.

After two appeals, including an appeal to France’s highest court, Brinkworth was told that her case had exceeded the statute of limitations and could not be pursued.

“I was instructed at the time not to report the attack. [by people who worked for the BBC]. I was in the middle of a high-profile, very expensive television documentary series.

“So it was a huge embarrassment for the company to have a producer on the show who was attacked. I think it was an inconvenience, but it also meant that if I had reported it at the time, filming would have been on hold for longer, or possibly disbanded altogether.”

He also said that even though he wanted to report the accusation to the police, the evidence collected at the time was rejected by senior figures in the team.

Brinkworth said the BBC was still refusing to help her case by not giving her “vital evidence” in raw footage which she said recorded her account of the incident in the minutes after the attack took place.

After the documentary was broadcast in November 1999, Elite Models sued the BBC, alleging misrepresentation. They reached a legally binding agreement, the details of which the BBC cannot disclose.

Brinkworth said she was told by the BBC “specifically and categorically on a number of occasions” that she was “legally bound” not to speak about any aspect of the documentary, including the alleged assault on her.

Gérald Marie’s lawyer said: “The allegations made by the complainants have already been the subject of an extensive investigation in France. This investigation was closed without further action.”

A BBC spokesman said: “As we have always said, we take these matters very seriously and know that the situation is distressing for Lisa Brinkworth. “The BBC is not trying to silence Ms Brinkworth; she is free to speak about the BBC investigation and her experiences, and has done so.

“We have already provided material to the French authorities to help Ms Brinkworth pursue the matter, and investigators have assured us that they have now received what they need from the BBC. We have also provided material directly to Ms Brinkworth. We will continue to do all we can to assist the process.”