Congolese rhumba star Koffi Olomidé has been sentenced to 18 months in prison for the kidnapping of his former dancers.
The Versailles Court in France pronounced the verdict on December 13. The Congolese singer was, however, acquitted of sexual assault charges he had earlier on been charged with on the same dancers– the former members of his Quartier Latin band.
The sexual assault on the dancers had allegedly been perpetrated between 2002 and 2006 in the singer’s villa in Asnières, a town in the Paris region.
The acquittal on the sexual assaults is “given for the benefit of the doubt,” explained the president of the 7th Correctional Chamber of the Versailles Court of Appeal, referring in particular to the “evolving, sometimes contradictory statements” of the complainants.
The singer’s judicial record is heavy and includes a conviction in 2019 in France, for rape of a minor under 15 years old and sequestration of four of his dancers. At first instance, the Nanterre court gave him a two-year suspended sentence instead of the seven-year prison sentence requested by the prosecution.
The star had appealed against the sentence.