Belgian artist Jan Fabre on trial in spring

He is one of the big names in contemporary art: the Belgian sculptor and choreographer Jan Fabre, suspected of “indecent assault” and “sexual harassment” within his dance company, Troubleyn, will be tried. in the spring by the Antwerp Criminal Court.

The two-day trial will be held on March 25 and 1^is avril 2022.

Eline Tritsmans, who defends Jan Fabre, said that her client will then explain himself to justice, “not in the media”. “The image given of him in the media does not correspond to reality, we have caricatured him crudely, we will explain himself in court,” said the lawyer in front of journalists. The 62-year-old Flemish artist faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison.

#MoiAussi

In September 2018, in the wake of the #MoiAussi movement, around twenty former collaborators of the choreographer complained of having been subjected to psychological pressure, humiliation and even blackmail of a sexual nature. “Its principle was: ‘no sex, no solo’,” summed up one of the co-signers – the vast majority of women – ofan open letter published by the specialist Dutch-speaking journal Straight: Verse.

In a right of reply, the interested party had refuted en bloc. “We’re not forcing anyone here to do things that one or the other considers to be beyond their limits. I never intended to intimidate or hurt people psychologically or sexually, ”he pleaded.

Referral to criminal justice

But three years of investigations under the authority of the Auditorat du travail d’Anvers, a tribunal specializing in labor disputes, ended in June in his referral to criminal justice. He will be tried for “violence, harassment or sexual harassment at work” against “12 employees”. The prosecution, without specifying any identity, also retained the “indecent assault” against one of these 12 people.

All these alleged victims will be represented at the trial by Christine Mussche, who refused to speak to the press on Tuesday morning.

Among the 12 are Belgian dancers Geneviève Lagravière and Icelandic Erna Omarsdottir. Three years ago, in the wake of the open letter, they testified in the New York Times of their traumatic experiences with Jan Fabre.

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