French Court Halts Trial of Comic Artist Accused of Child Porn in Graphic Novels

The draftsman had to be tried for child pornography. The court in Nanterre (Hautes-de-Seine) held that the facts were not within its jurisdiction.

French court halts trial of comic artist accused of child porn in graphic novels

Comic book author Bastien Vivès appeared in court on Tuesday to face charges of fixing and distributing child pornography in two of his comic albums. But the two-day trial, which pits issues of child protection against freedom of speech, was halted after the court north of Paris declared it lacked the territorial jurisdiction to judge the case.

The cartoonist Bastien Vivès was warned, on the visa of article 227-23 of the Criminal Code, of having made drawings of minors of a pornographic nature in two of his works, "Petit Paul" (Glénat editions) and "The mental discharge"...

Two of its works are at the centre of the complaint: 'La Décharge mental' and 'Petit Paul', which openly show sexual relations between minors and adults A French court declared incompetence on this Wednesday (27) to judge the famous author of stories in Bastien Vivès squares, accused of exposing children's pornography images in some of its works.

While the comic strip author and his two publishers had been tried since this morning, the court declared itself incompetent to deal with the case. A (short) hearing in which the substance of the case was finally never really dealt with.

The 41-year-old cartoonist was scheduled to appear from this Wednesday, May 27 for "fixation and transmission for the dissemination of child pornography images" after the publication of pornographic comics.