​Jean-Michel Molpois, who won the 2022 Goncourt Prize for poetry, was sentenced on Tuesday by a criminal court in Strasbourg to 18 months in prison for domestic violence against his wife, who was also prosecuted, but was acquitted, AFP reports.

The facts relate to several episodes of violence, “ordinary quarrels”, according to Jean-Michel Molpois, covering the period from January 2020 to August 2023. Audio and video recordings were played in the courtroom.

The prosecutor demanded 18 months of conditional imprisonment for the perpetrator, and six months of conditional imprisonment for the wife.

“I had a completely different attitude, I admitted my guilt and my wife refused to admit hers,” Jean-Michel Molpois, 71, told AFP.

“It paid off for her because she was not convicted. However, there were several pieces of evidence that coincided, particularly from our two children, who said unequivocally that the abuse was mutual.’

The court’s double ruling is “difficult to understand,” commented Clément Desemptet, Jean-Michel Molpois’s lawyer, who spoke of “double standards.” “The acquittal raises questions, there were some objective elements that, in my opinion, proved the guilt” of the wife, he told AFP.

For Annabelle Mace, the wife’s lawyer, who rejects that approach, her client only inflicted “defensive injuries” on Jean-Michel Molpois during the violence. Her client is “pleased and relieved to be recognized as a victim,” she said.

The prosecutor’s office in Strasbourg said it was studying the possibility of appealing the acquittal.

The couple, who have two children aged 14 and 17, are currently divorcing. According to both sides, the years-long violence began long before the facts stated in court.

In 2006, Jean-Michel Molpois was fined for defamation after posting on his personal website a review of police violence.

A former student of the École Normale Supérieure de Saint-Cloud, Adjunct Professor of Literature Jean-Michel Molpois is also Professor Emeritus at the Sorbonne Nouvelle University.