Ten members of the Paris Fire Brigade (BSPP) are due to stand trial this Monday for "violence and sexual assault", during a hazing incident that went wrong. The trial will run until 17 December.
The events date back to 6 May 2012, when the prestigious BSPP gymnastics team was returning from a competition in Colmar and two new recruits were called into the ‘Bronx’ – the name given to the back of the bus – according to our colleagues at RTL.
Underpants torn off, pinching, spanking, violent bites on the buttocks until they bled… Most of the defendants will appear in court to "assault", three for "sexual assault" and two of them, for having "failed to prevent a crime or offence against physical integrity".
"This affair was a disaster"
According to our colleagues at RTL, firefighters had stated during the investigation that this hazing was "a tradition dating back almost a century", "not based on any form of compulsion" and that many of them had been there before.
According to the lawyer for one of the defendants, the events took place in a party atmosphere that got out of hand, and one of the victims was subjected to hazing at his own request. His client, now aged 29, is no longer a firefighter but a painter. “His dream was shattered in mid-flight,” he adds, RTL. The lawyer representing the two victims believes that "this case has been a disaster for everyone.
The charge of rape was not upheld
When the case hit the front pages of the French media, one of the victims claimed that the incident had been filmed on a mobile phone and that he had been subjected to anal penetration, first with a finger and then with a plastic bottle, whilst his arms and legs were being held down. Following the investigation, this allegation was not upheld. A century after its formation, the prestigious team of around fifty top-level gymnasts was disbanded.