6 years ago, a criminal offense was added to the French penal code

Article 611-1 of the Penal Code:

"The fact of soliciting, accepting or obtaining relations of a sexual nature from a person who engages in prostitution, even occasionally, in exchange for remuneration, a promise of remuneration, the provision of an advantage in kind or the promise of such an advantage is punishable by the fine laid down for 5th class offences.

Persons guilty of the offence provided for in this article shall also be liable to one or more of the additional penalties mentioned in Article 131-16 and the second paragraph of Article 131-17. »

Hearings in Fontainebleau

In 2018, I represented the NGO Équipes d'action contre le proxénétisme before the Fontainebleau police court where men accused of "being clients of people who are prostituted" were judged. This NGO works with victims of pimping by providing social, psychological and legal support.

I remember the atmosphere in that tiny courtroom full of people. There were men and women on trial for cases that fill the news pages - or don't even appear there. This morning there were cases of unauthorised festival and traffic offences.

And in the midst of all this, were these five men, five personalities and five very different attitudes on the stand. Some were repentant, another was very angry at this procedure which, according to him, had "caused" his divorce, another found it scandalous that one could no longer pick mushrooms in the Fontainebleau woods without being accused of being a "client of a person in prostitution".

In all the cases, the person who were prostituted were women.

For more information

Please find under this link an article analysing the decisions of the police court judge in these cases who, in short, condemned those who recognised the facts and relaxed the others, even though the police investigations were all identical.

The Firm assists and represents victims of pimping.