Obligation to Denounce Facts Despite Prescription Acquisition - published: 30/09/2025
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Themes
Court de cassation, Article 434-3, Penal Code, prescription period, vulnerability, denunciation obligation, sexual abuse, minors, public action, statute of limitations
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Abstract
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Abstract
The Court of Cassation's ruling on the obligation to denounce facts despite the acquisition of prescription, and its implications on the vulnerability of victims.
Extract
[...] of public action, [...]
[...] The text appears to have the objective that sexual abuses can always be reported, if not by the victim herself, then by a third party who is informed. The law seeks to find a balance between the protection of the integrity of the victims and the severity of the punishment incurred by a a third party. The no must not search to to frame plus severely the non-denunciation that the facts themselves, which reveal themselves to be more serious. [...]
[...] In 2014, another victim contacted him to denounce the same facts from the same part of the same person. In 2015, this victim files complaint against the priest, who a recognized to have procedure of sexual abuse on many children until 1991 and who was sent to court penal. In 2015, a once adults, of victims on then filed a complaint for non reporting of sexual assaults on minors and omission to provide assistance. Following an investigation, the prosecutor of the Republic proceeded to a classification. [...]
[...] The", " Court of cassation a I à de to ask if the warned had the obligation to inform the authorities even though the victims were no longer vulnerable at the time of knowledge of the facts and while the prescription of public action was acquired. The Court of Cassation, in this judgment, brings of precisions how much to the constitution of delit par omission of the non-denunciation d'abus sexuels. In in effect, the Court of Cassation affirm that the obligation to denounce the facts dwellings despite a prescription acquired of the action published but that this obligation ceases when the victims are in a state to denounce the facts (II). [...]
[...] The Court of appeal a declared extinct by prescription the action publish for a crime of non-denunciation by the bishop. In fact, it claims that this crime is an instantaneous offense, whose prescription starts running the day the accused became aware of the facts that they should have denounced, here in March 2010. The prescription of the ministry public of three ans au moment des faits a so been acquired in March 2013. Or, the prosecutor de the Republic a open a enquiry the 26 February 2016. [...]
