The 6 years of the law of 13 April 2016 "aimed at reinforcing the fight against the prostitutional system and supporting people who are prostituted".
6 years ago, a criminal offense was added to the French penal code
Article 611-1 of the Penal Code:
"The fact of soliciting, accepting or obtaining relations of a sexual nature from a person who engages in prostitution, even occasionally, in exchange for remuneration, a promise of remuneration, the provision of an advantage in kind or the promise of such an advantage is punishable by the fine laid down for 5th class offences.
Persons guilty of the offence provided for in this article shall also be liable to one or more of the additional penalties mentioned in Article 131-16 and the second paragraph of Article 131-17.
Hearings in Fontainebleau
In 2018, I represented the NGO Équipes d'action contre le proxénétisme before the Fontainebleau police court where men accused of "being clients of people who are prostituted" were judged. This NGO works with victims of pimping by providing social, psychological and legal support.
I remember the atmosphere in that tiny courtroom full of people. There were men and women on trial for cases that fill the news pages - or don't even appear there. This morning there were cases of unauthorised festival and traffic offences.
And in the midst of all this, were these five men, five personalities and five very different attitudes on the stand. Some were repentant, another was very angry at this procedure which, according to him, had "caused" his divorce, another found it scandalous that one could no longer pick mushrooms in the Fontainebleau woods without being accused of being a "client of a person in prostitution".
In all the cases, the person who were prostituted were women.
