French policeman to pay 1,000 euros for insulting woman

A picture taken on November 25, 2014 in Paris, shows policemen standing in front of the entrance of the XI district of Paris’ police station. FILE PHOTO/Agence France-Presse

PARIS — A French police officer has been ordered to pay 1,000 euros ($1,000) after he described a woman, who filed a sexual assault complaint, as a “whore”, a source close to the case said on Saturday.

In a case that sparked outrage in France, the woman, then 34, filed a complaint at a Paris police station in February 2022, saying she had been assaulted in the street after several drinks on a night out.

A male police officer later rang her, leaving a message on her answerphone asking her to come back and finish the paperwork.

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Thinking he had hung up, he then started insulting her, calling her a “whore” twice and a “fat whore” once.

The case sparked indignation from activists, who said it reflected how many police officers treated victims of sexual violence.

In a rare such comment, France’s then interior minister, Gerald Darmanin, said the 33-year-old officer should be fired.

The policeman was charged with “non-public insult because of gender”. But a French court cleared the policeman of criminal liability in January 2024.

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During the trial, the officer apologized and said he had had to beg Darmanin to keep his job.

The woman appealed against the decision, asking judicial authorities to recognize the officer’s misconduct.

On January 30, the Paris Court of Appeal sided with the woman and said the policeman should pay her 1,000 euros, according to a copy of the ruling seen by AFP.

The police officer repeatedly apologized for his remarks, but insisted that they were merely an expression of his annoyance at procedural irregularities.

In its ruling, the court found that “it cannot be disputed that the term ‘la pute’ (whore) repeated several times is offensive and was, in view of the context, aimed at (the plaintiff) because of her sex”.

The woman’s lawyer Arie Alimi said it was necessary “to go all the way” to draw attention to the bias “towards victims of sexual and gender-based violence and towards victims of police officers”.

A lawyer for the police officer did not immediately respond to a request for comment.