Former Canal+ pundit Pierre Ménès given two-month suspended sentence for sexual assault

The Paris Criminal Court has given Pierre Ménès a two-month suspended sentence on Wednesday, RMC report. The former Canal+ pundit was on trial for sexual assault. An eight-month suspended sentence as well as a €6,000 fine had been requested by the prosecutor’s office during Ménès’ trial on March 8th. Ménès was prosecuted for charges of assault of two saleswomen on June 18, 2018, in a Nike store in Paris. He was found guilty at first instance in one of these two complaints and cleared for the other. He was also cleared in a fondling case that is alleged to have occured at the Parc des Princes in 2021.

The Paris Criminal Court considered that “the initial contact” described by the saleswoman was “corroborated by CCTV”. “On the other hand, for the rest, the court considered that there was substantial doubt and that he could not be found guilty” , declared the court’s president. The magistrate said “he went for the minimum sentence,” and did not register Ménès in the automated judicial file of perpetrators of sexual or violent offenders.

The former journalist had vigorously contested any sexual assault, denouncing an “empty case” . “It is unacceptable because our client has never intentionally committed any sexual offence” , reacted Arash Derambarsh, Ménès’ lawyer, after the verdict. The latter stressed that he was likely to appeal.

GFFN | Bastien Cheval