BFMTV
SPOUSAL VIOLENCE – Judokas Alain Schmitt and Margaux Pinot clashed Thursday by media after the release of the coach of the facts of domestic violence accused by his partner and Olympic champion, a case that moves far beyond the dojos.
During the night from Tuesday to Wednesday, the Bobigny criminal court released the former member of the French judo team after a hearing for immediate appearance, considering “not having enough evidence of guilt”. The prosecution appealed.
This judgment aroused indignation in the world of judo and on social networks, where justice has found itself accused of laxity towards domestic violence. “What was missing? Death at the end, perhaps? ”Asked the judoka, posting a photo of her swollen face.
From Blanc-Mesnil and the Bobigny court in Seine-Saint-Denis, places of the first act of this case, the Pinot-Schmitt confrontation moved Thursday in law firms. Framed by their advice, the two protagonists spoke a few hours apart in press conferences to deliver again two antagonistic, irreconcilable stories.
Alain Schmitt “defended himself”
Considering himself set up as an archetype of the violent man despite his release, Alain Schmitt counter-attacked at the beginning of the afternoon by denouncing a “media lynching”. “There was an appeal (from the prosecution), it’s justice. They have the right to do it and they have done it. Now, what I do not respect, however, is the media lynching that has been carried out around this. Instagram, Twitter, it’s anything but a court, ”said the 38-year-old coach, a huge bruise on the upper right part of the face.
According to him, bitter of his departure for Israel planned a few hours later, Margaux Pinot would have pounced on him. The two would then have fought as in a judo match, rolling in the middle of the apartment. “She hit me hard in the door, then we went from right to left, in the wall, in the radiator … We really hit everywhere”, testified Alain Schmitt.
As he had done at the helm on Tuesday night, the 2013 Worlds bronze medalist (-81 kg) categorically denied having punched Margaux Pinot, or hit her head against the ground, described the sportswoman on Twitter.
“He defended himself,” said his lawyer Caroline Wassermann at the microphone of BFMTV. She questioned Margaux Pinot’s version, asserting that her client “weighing 90kg, if he had put four, five punches in the face of Madame Pinot, by smashing her head against the ground, she would no longer be. there she would be in a coma at best. It’s completely delusional. ”
“The question is who started it and why”, she underlined, saying “not to see why” her client “on the departure” would have wanted to attack his companion.
“He’s lying”, says Margaux Pinot
Margaux Pinot, gold medalist at the last Olympic Games with the French mixed team, firmly rejected Alain Schmitt’s version when she appeared in front of the cameras at the end of the day: “he’s lying!”
Her face covered with bruises, the 27-year-old described an outburst of gratuitous violence from her companion, who had consumed alcohol, while she was in bed. “He straddled me, he started punching me, right, left… I didn’t even defend myself to avoid the blows, I told him ‘Alain, stop, stop! ‘”, She related. “I was like ‘you have to get out of him or else you’re dead.’”
Alain Schmitt says he had decided to go to Israel to train the national women’s team in order to flee a relationship he presented as unstable and sawtooth, subject to violent altercations triggered by his companion. “She calmed down after two or three minutes, even if she broke everything, she went all over the place,” he said, saying “take a few knocks in general”.
Margaux Pinot also mentioned “two violent episodes” where Alain Schmitt had “sacked [son] apartment.” “This is the first time he touched my face,” she said, however, of their last argument. “It had been several months that I wanted to stop this relationship,” said the sportswoman. “I was waiting for him to leave to really part with it.”
“Restore the truth”
Faced with the outcry caused by the acquittal, master Rachid Madid, lawyer of Margaux Pinot, assured that there was no question of “calling into question or calling for hatred against the magistrates and Mr. Schmitt.”
“Why was the court decision made? The time at which this case was called says something about the working conditions of magistrates. If there hadn’t been 10 cases to try before, perhaps reading the evidence would have led to a conviction, ”he said, also criticizing the defense who“ tried to turn the situation around ” .
The prosecution now hopes that the prosecution’s appeal will “restore the truth.” “When we look at the story of Miss Pinot, her bruises and the statements of each other, I think there was every reason to condemn”, added the council of the sportswoman.
After the decision of the Bobigny court, the Israeli Judo Federation announced that it had suspended all contact with Alain Schmitt.
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