It’s a book that comes out this Thursday, January 7, but which has already caused a lot of ink to flow. “La Familia grande” by lawyer Camille Kouchner. A book in which she accuses her stepfather, the political scientist and columnist Olivier Duhamel, of incest on her twin brother when he was 14 years old at the end of the 1980s. The Paris prosecutor’s office has opened an investigation. Case which resonates for Me Anne-Laure Pillon, lawyer at the bar of Amiens who regularly defends minors victims of violence. She answered questions from France Bleu Picardie.
How do you see the release of this book and the media coverage around it?
“I find it unfortunate, by definition, that the subject of incest is sometimes ‘used’, because the ravages of incest and rape are colossal. But I fully understand that we need or want to write. It is always done without a process of help for oneself or for others. If it can get things done, so much the better. “
– Claudia Calmel
How often are you faced with incest cases in Picardy, as a lawyer?
“It’s almost daily. Almost every day, I meet with a child victim or I plead in a hearing to defend a child victim. It is not necessarily just incest, but the vast majority are acts of a sexual nature. And very often, they are committed by family members, friends, and where we very regularly find an inability to verbalize, say or reveal facts, even when members of the entourage suspect something.
How do you explain this law of silence, which hovers particularly over cases of incest?
“There are, on the side of the victims, two feelings that are systematically found: shame and guilt. And these two terrible feelings make it very difficult to speak out. And then, on the side of those around them, of the family which sometimes knows things but which does not denounce them, there are sometimes experiences, phenomena of repetition which mean that some parents have not integrated the seriousness of the facts. Finally, sometimes, and these are cases in which I I attended, it’s “easier” to tell yourself that you have a child who does not tell the truth than to admit that you live with a mati who is an aggressor. ”
How to react in case of suspicion of incest within his family or with relatives?
“You can call 119, which is a number dedicated to child protection. You really have to do it.”
According to an Ipsos survey published in November 2020, 10% of French people say they have been victims of rape or sexual assault during their childhood, committed in the family sphere.
Listen to the full interview with Maître Anne-Laure Pillon here.
–
