French singer Patrick Bruel was detained on Monday as part of a sexual abuse investigation “which, at this stage, involves 13 alleged victims”, according to French justice.
Ongoing investigation “concerns the facts (reported by) three women who accuse Patrick Bruel of sexual assaults and attempted rape” between 1997 and 2001, added the Prosecutor’s Office of Nanterre (Paris region). They are also targeted “acts of rape or attempted rape, sexual assaults and harassment” denounced by other women, in France and Belgium, writes Agerpres.
The interpreter of emblematic songs for a generation of French people, such as “Casser la voix” and “Place des grands hommes”is the subject of four rape complaints in France and a judicial investigation for sexual assault in Belgium. The artist contests all the facts imputed to him.
Patrick Bruel “has been announcing for several weeks that he is at the disposal of justice in order to be able to answer finally, in the framework of the judicial procedure, before the competent authority“, his lawyers, Christophe Ingrain, Céline Lasek and Fanny Colin, reacted in a statement. “He will answer all the questions of the investigators and provide all the necessary elements to prove his innocence”. the lawyers stated.
The prosecutor’s office in Nanterre also stated in the statement that the prosecutor in Saint-Malo (north-west) surrendered his jurisdiction in his favor, on May 29, 2026, “regarding the accusations of rape brought against Patrick Bruel and committed in Dinard in 2012 on a 32-year-old woman at the time of the facts”.
Also, during the detention, an official complaint from the Belgian authorities from June 1, 2026, regarding acts of rape and sexual assault committed in Brussels in 2010, imputed to Patrick Bruel by a woman who was 40 years old at the time, will be discussed.
Under pressure, the 67-year-old French star announced on Friday the cancellation of most of the shows on his upcoming tour, which was due to start in mid-June in Paris.
His three concerts in Montreal were canceled on Wednesday by the promoter. Several concerts remain, at this moment, scheduled for the fall, notes AFP.
