The ex-CEO of the Assu 2000 group, Jacques Bouthier, indicted in particular for rape of a minor, was released and placed under judicial supervision on Monday, according to information from the Parisian.
The court upheld the investigating judge’s order on March 13 to release the French businessman due to his health.
At the end of February, medical experts concluded that Bouthier presented a “possible insane process beginning” with a “suspicious cognitive decline requiring the realization of a neuropsychological assessment and a memory consultation”. The experts also wrote that he suffered from a deterioration in the general condition associated with severe malnutrition, linked to his detention.
His state of health was thus “incompatible with continued detention”, according to the medical report which added that the 76-year-old indicted should be transferred to a hospital as soon as possible. This measure was accompanied by the payment of a deposit of 500,000 euros, serving as a guarantee of representation and for the possible and future compensation of the victims, if he is convicted later.
Jacques Bouthier was indicted last May for human trafficking, and rape of a minor but also for conspiracy to commit the crime of kidnapping, kidnapping in an organized gang, as well as possession of child pornography images.
Eight collaborators of Jacques Bouthier had been referred to a criminal court in Tangier, in particular for “human trafficking” and “sexual harassment”.
Six Moroccans, including two women, and two French are among the eight accused, who are being tried for “trafficking in human beings,” “sexual harassment,” “invitation to debauchery,” and “non-denunciation of attempted or committed crimes,” according to Nezha Khoubiza, the civil parties’ attorney, during a press conference in Rabat.
Four defendants are currently in detention while the other four will be able to appear free, said Master Karima Salama, another lawyer, “A ninth suspect in the case, a Frenchman, died in a road accident recently,” she added, without further details.