“Mr. Plaza isn’t here?”asks President Thierry Donard. However, the star presenter of M6 was expected in front of the 10my Criminal division of the Paris court, on Wednesday 28 August, to be tried there for “habitual physical and psychological violence by a partner” committed between 2018 and 2022 against two ex-partners.
They are accused of insults, threats and, in particular, of beating one of them and of a gesture that caused the fracture of a finger and the dislocation of two others. At the opening of the hearing on Wednesday afternoon, the two women are there, in the first row on the right. Stéphane Plaza, who should be in the first row on the left, is not.
The 54-year-old presenter, actor and real estate agent, who year after year appears high on the list of the French people’s favourite personalities, sent the court a request for non-appearance. In this letter, dated August 23 – which the president of the court received with surprise only the day before the hearing – Stéphane Plaza mentions: “a serious alteration of [son] Health status linked to media lynching [son] meeting for almost a year, and which has intensified even further in recent weeks”.
Attached to this letter is a certificate from the psychologist who has been following him since March, the date on which his referral to court was announced. which underlines “very fragile psychological state” of their average patients, their “mass anxiety”his “dark thoughts” and his “sleep disorders”. “His presence at his trial does not seem like a good option to me”writes the psychologist, who points out the risk of “psychological decompensation” and recommends a “hospitalization in a protected environment”.
“Lack of courage” of the accused
The president of the court, the prosecutor and the civil parties, already quite irritated by the two priority questions of constitutionality raised at the last second by the defence, and which had as their only consequence to waste three hours for everyone, seem to appreciate only moderately that they have been presented with a fait accompli.
“It is obvious that Mr. Plaza would like to be present today”swears the lawyer of the invisible accused, Hélène Plumet, but “We prioritize your mental health”. she attacks the « recurring articles from Midpart »the first media outlet to mention the case in September 2023, and revealed to the court the ” harassment “and even the “extortion attempt” by an ex-partner, of whom his client had been a victim in recent weeks. “Mr. Plaza is ready to come to the hearing in a calm environment”He also promises his other lawyer, Carlo Alberto Brusa, who denies any delaying tactics and suggests “a summons within a few months to allow for its recovery”.
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