Publicado
Fri, Feb 17, 2023, 13:20
- The case rolls on after Mavi De Mars refused to detract her statement against the Israeli artist.
Earlier this week, Guy Gerber served Mavi De Mars, the woman who accuses him of raping her in 2013, with legal documents confirming criminal proceedings.
De Mars, who claims the incident took place at a villa on the Greek island of Mykonos, officially received the papers at a court in Ibiza on Tuesday, February 14th. The charge is "calumnia," which translates to "slander" or "defamation." The action was signed by judge Carmen Martín Montero.
This latest move follows a conciliation meeting between the two parties in Formentera last October. De Mars and Gerber's representative had the chance to discuss the situation and reach an agreement. The meeting was the final step before the case could officially be submitted to court.
"At the conciliation it was agreed that I would be informed if there was a willingness to have a second meeting pending the matters discussed," De Mars told Resident Advisor. "Following a number of failed attempts to get clarity, I was advised to go directly to the courts and was officially served the documents while there on Tuesday."
The papers—which have been seen by RA—were filed on November 10th and accepted by the court on December 13th.
"In case the judge does not find 'reasonable cause' she would dismiss the case," said Gerber's lawyer, Jaime Campaner. "Now we're waiting for Ms. De Mars' appearance–no date has been scheduled yet."
During the conciliation meeting–details of which were recorded in a transcript seen by RA–De Mars was told that Gerber wouldn't take further action against her if she withdrew her statement accusing him of rape. But she said agreeing to retract her statement "would be lying."
According to the transcript, De Mars said the only way she would reconcile with Gerber is if he agreed to take part in a "spiritual, moral, psychic, physical rehabilitation programme" and dedicated "time and resources to help the #MeToo movement so women can live in a safer way without experiencing this type of harassment."
Speaking to RA in October, De Mars said she planned to launch her own criminal case against Gerber pending the outcome of the conciliation meeting. This would be actioned in the UK or Greece, where the alleged incident took place. But De Mars said she will now wait to be assigned a public defence lawyer before taking the next step.
"At this point, I surrender and trust whatever is happening," she told RA. "It's taken me nine years to speak up and seeing how re-traumatising the process can be, I now fully understand why."
The allegations against Gerber first surfaced last summer via de Mars's Instagram account. Within days, the Israeli artist had begun the legal process against her.
The date of the criminal case has yet to be confirmed. We'll report more on this story as it develops.
Photo: Jordan Larz