French judge charges Congolese singer Olomide with rape
A French
judge has charged Congolese music star Koffi Olomide with three counts of rape and illegal
confinement after complaints from three of his former backup dancers, his lawyer said
Wednesday. "Koffi Olomide went Monday afternoon of his own free will to answer a
summons by an investigating judge in (the Parisian suburb of) Nanterre, where he was
charged," Olomide's lawyer Manuel Aeschlimann told AFP. The singer has since
returned to the Democratic Republic of Congo, he said, without waiting for a French
ruling on whether he should be held without bail. Aeschlimann said a former dancer had filed a
complaint in 2006 and that two years later two more dancers followed suit. One of the plaintiffs was a minor
at the time of the alleged
sexual assaults. He said the case against Olomide was "empty and
hollow. There is no
material evidence and the statements of the three women who accuse him of rape contain numerous
contradictions. "Aeschlimann alleged that the women filed the complaints in the
hopes of obtaining temporary French residency permits.
(AFP) Wednesday, February 15
2012 at 21:14
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