Olympic judo champion Margaux Pinot accused her coach and partner, Alain Schmitt, of violently assaulting her at home. However, the criminal court of the municipality of Bobigny acquitted Schmitt, who denies the facts. The world of judo, starting with the French team, sympathized with Pinot and gave him its support.
“What good is his slanderous defense against my injuries and the blood on the floor of my apartment? What was missing? That he died, perhaps?” Margaux Pinot’s anger does not diminish. By posting a photo of her swollen face on her Twitter account, the athlete showed her outrage at the acquittal of Alain Schmitt, whom she accuses of violence.
What vaut leur défense calomnieuse face à mes blessures, et le sang jonchant le sol de mon appartement?
What manquait-il? La mort au bout, peut-être?C’est probably le judo qui m’a sauvé. This month I thought they were also for celles who had passed in direct autant.
Margaux
– Margaux Pinot (@ MargauxPinot2) December 1, 2021
The criminal court of the municipality of Bobigny did not find “sufficient evidence of guilt” of the former member of the French judo team and acquitted him in a hearing held on Tuesday night.
At the trial, the prosecutor had denounced “very serious violence – even for a person who commits his first crime -” by Alain Schmitt, and requested a sentence of one year in prison.
A few hours after the exoneration, the Bobigny prosecutor’s office announced to the AFP agency that it will appeal the ruling. The Olympic champion of the new mixed team event spoke on social networks for the first time since the events, which occurred on November 27.
“On Saturday night, I was attacked at my home by my partner and coach. He insulted me, punched me, hit my head on the ground several times. And finally he strangled me. I thought I was going to die,” the woman described 27 years old. “It was probably the judo that saved me. And my thoughts are also with those who cannot say the same,” he remarked.
Contradictory versions in the hearings
During the hearing, the two parties presented contradictory versions. Alain Schmitt denied “100%” the acts of which he was accused. In the living room, his face marked by a black eye, he ruled out having dealt the slightest blow to his partner, describing instead a fight between lovers, based on judo grabs and started by Margaux Pinot.
“It was not a judo match, it was a fist match,” protested the Olympic champion in the room.
Margaux Pinot accused him of beating her, pulling her hair and also trying to strangle her during an altercation in her apartment. His cries for help alerted the neighbors, in whose house he took refuge before the police arrived at around 2.30 am (local time). The judoka suffered bruises and a broken nose and was given a ten-day medical leave.
Contacted by AFP, Alain Schmitt’s lawyer, Caroline Wassermann, stated that her client welcomes with “serenity” the prosecution’s decision to appeal the court’s decision.
“There was an appeal (by the prosecution), that is justice. They have the right to do it and they did it. Now, what I do not respect on the other hand, is the media lynching that was done around the case. Instagram, Twitter It is anything but a court, “Alain Schmitt replied, with a huge bruise on the upper right part of his face, at a press conference held on Thursday.
The world of judo, “shocked” and “stunned”
The coach’s acquittal and Margaux Pinot’s testimony on Twitter sparked outrage from French judo stars on Wednesday.
In a message of support to her colleague, French judo star Clarisse Agbégnénou wrote that she was “shocked” by the court’s decision.
Je n’ai pas les mots pour ex first tout ce who passes dans ma tete et mon corps in both that femme face à ce that ma coéquipière Margaux Pinot to rise.
D’autant plus shock of the decision of justice. Que faut-il pour que les sanctions tombent, la mort? https://t.co/gITdlNxmLs– AGBÉGNÉNOU Clarisse (@ Gnougnou25) December 1, 2021
“I have no words to express everything that goes through my head and my woman’s body in the face of what my colleague Margaux Pinot has suffered,” the flag-bearer of the French delegation at the Tokyo Olympics declared in a tweet.
“We are all deeply moved by what our teammate Margaux Pinot just suffered,” added three-time Olympic champion Teddy Riner a few minutes later.
Nous sommes tous depth touchés par ce that rise to rise notre coéquipière Margaux Pinot and nous lui apportons tout notre soutien. What faut-il faire pour that the victims soient do you understand? What aggressors soient reconnus coupables? https://t.co/xzxgPViDFb
– Teddy Riner (@teddyriner) December 1, 2021
“We were astonished, we were surprised by the decision,” Stéphane Nomis, president of the French Judo Federation, told AFP.
“I do not understand how you can say that there is an absence of evidence,” he questioned. “I do not have the entire file, but seeing its status, it is difficult for me to understand that someone can say ‘absence of evidence'”, he insisted.
Pinot said she felt “controlled” by Schmitt in their relationship
The individual record of Margaux Pinot, who fought in two categories (-63 and -70 kilograms), includes a world bronze medal in 2019, two European champion titles (2019 and 2020) and two continental silver medals (2017, 2021).
A bronze medalist at the 2013 World Championships (-81 kg), Alain Schmitt became a coach and planned to go to Israel to take the reins of the women’s Judo team.
“There were only two solutions, as I said during the hearing: for her to leave the club or for me to leave. I chose to leave,” Schmitt told L’Équipe newspaper.
The Israeli Judo Federation announced that it had suspended all contact with him following the court’s decision.
“It was probably more bad than good in the end,” Pinot said in an interview with Le Parisien newspaper before the hearing.
“My friends and my parents were pessimistic about this relationship, in which I felt controlled. I tried to find out what a normal relationship was, and that was not a normal relationship,” he said.
This article was adapted from its original in French.
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