The singer still maintains his innocence, saying he "never sought to coerce anyone into a sexual act", while declaring that he "does not question the feelings of women."
Pressure is mounting on French singer and actor Patrick Bruel, as women's testimonies questioning his behaviour have been multiplying over the past three months.
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The star is now the subject of three investigations in France and Belgium for alleged acts of rape and sexual violence between 1991 and 2019.
These claims are the subject of four complaints in the Paris region, in addition to one filed last week by the French television presenter Flavie Flament.
Initial complaints
The affair erupted in March, when news outlet Mediapart shared the accounts of eight women (source in French) accusing Bruel of sexual violence, two of whom lodged complaints of rape and attempted rape respectively.
The first complaint relates to events that allegedly took place in 1997, on the fringes of a French festival in Acapulco, Mexico, when the complainant, Daniela Elstner,director general of Unifrance, was 26 years old. Her lawyer, Jade Dousselin, claims that her client is "describing two separate episodes".
_"_A first episode in a taxi where she was sexually assaulted, and then another episode in a bungalow where she was raped. This was prevented by the courage she showed that day, screaming and managing to escape", she explained.
Although these acts are now time-barred under the Code of Criminal Procedure (source in French) - which establishes a statute of limitation of 20 years after the "day on which the offence was committed" for rape charges - Jade Dousselin "hopes that there will be hearings because it is important that we be able" to hear her client.
As for the second complaint, according to Mediapart, it concerns events dating back to "October 2012, on the fringes of the Dinard British Film Festival, where Patrick Bruel chaired the jury".
These initial statements led to others, and the number of testimonies has multiplied in recent months. No fewer than 30 women have now accused the singer of sexual violence, via Mediapart, ELLE (source in French) and the Belgian press.
Freedom of speech
Two new complaints were lodged against Patrick Bruel last Tuesday.
The first complainant, a masseuse aged 29 at the time of the incident, accused the musician of sexual assault during a session at a hotel-spa in the Perpignan region in 2019.
The second has filed a complaint for "attempted rape", claiming that the singer tried to force her to perform oral sex during an interview at his home in 2010.
These two women had already filed complaints in 2019 and 2020, but the investigations were then closed due to a lack of evidence.
According to Iris Biehler, the complainants' lawyer, they "have been strengthened in their approach by the accounts of other victims they have read about in the press in recent weeks".
"They want to protect other women and hope that the acts they suffered will not go unpunished", the lawyer told BFMTV.
The Paris public prosecutor, Laure Beccuau, told RTL on Sunday that the four complaints against Patrick Bruel "will be grouped together at the Nanterre public prosecutor's office, which has jurisdiction because of the singer's place of residence".
The 67-year-old musician, who is presumed innocent, strongly denies the allegations and says he "never sought to coerce anyone into a sexual act", while declaring that he "does not question the feelings of women".
Flavie Flament files rape complaint
In addition to these four complaints, TV presenter Flavie Flament posted a message on Instagram on Friday announcing that she was "lodging a complaint against Patrick Bruel for rape" in relation to events that took place in 1991, when she was 16.
"Flavie Flament wrote:"So that the truth may come out, so that justice may be done, so that people may stop looking the other way, I join my voice to those of other women who are speaking out in France, Belgium and Canada.
At the time of going to press, Flavie Flament's complaint had been lodged with the senior examining magistrate in Paris, but the public prosecutor's office had not yet been formally notified.
Through his lawyers, Christophe Ingrain and Céline Lasek, Patrick Bruel has stated that he "never drugged Flavie Flament, and never forced her to have sex ".
"Patrick Bruel met Flavie Flament in the 1990s, and they had an episodic relationship at the time. Their exchanges have been friendly ever since [...]. Flavie Flament also invited him to several programmes she presented, a fact that is completely contradictory to his account today," the lawyers said.
"I saw him"
On Sunday, however, new testimony added weight to the accusations against Patrick Bruel.
In an Instagram comment published in response to a post by director Andréa Bescond, former Miss France Valérie Bègue said she had "absolutely no doubt" that Flavie Flament's testimony was true.
"He was president of the jury when I was elected [Miss France in 2007]. I saw him. I have absolutely no doubt. I believe all the women who have had the courage to speak out. And I encourage the others," she wrote.
Following this wave of new testimonies, the public prosecutor in Nanterre has also decided to reopen the investigation against the singer for a sexual assault committed in 2015.
The victim, aged 19 at the time, claims to have been forcibly kissed and digitally penetrated by Patrick Bruel. The complaint, filed in 2022, was dismissed despite an "extremely light investigation file", according to the complainant's lawyer, Myriam Guedj Benayoun.
