What awaits Prince Andrew, the subject of a complaint for sexual assault?

What awaits prince Andrew after the rejection by the United States justice of his appeal against the lawsuit of an American who accuses him of sexual assaults committed in 2001, when he was 17 years old?

For jurists interviewed by AFP, if the second son of Queen Elizabeth II does not reach a financial agreement with the plaintiff, Virginia Giuffre, 28, will be tried in civil matters with a negligible risk of facing criminal proceedings.

– Can you appeal?

Yes. Following the decision published Wednesday by Manhattan federal court judge Lewis Kaplan, the British prince’s lawyers can appeal. They can even go to the US Supreme Court in theory, but experts doubt that the process will go that far.

– What civil process?

If all of Andrés’ appeals against Giuffre’s complaint fail, a civil proceeding could take place “between September and December” this year, Judge Kaplan said in the fall of 2021.

In that case, the Duke of York, who “categorically” rejects the accusations, will have to give his sworn testimony to a law firm, probably in the United Kingdom, and answer questions from the plaintiff’s American advisers.

“It is a less formal table than a court, but it can be very long, last hours and be quite aggressive,” a former prosecutor, Bennett Gershman, told AFP.

The prince’s responses would then be submitted as evidence to a civil trial jury charged with deliberating on financial compensation for the plaintiff.

“If you do not appear, you will be tried in absentia and the trial will be unfavorable,” warns New York attorney Richard Signorelli.

– Can Andrés be criminally prosecuted?

The complaint that Giuffre filed in New York in August 2021 for “sexual assaults” that would have been perpetrated in 2001 in London, New York and the US Virgin Islands – residences of the sexual predators Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, friends of the prince – does not it can be converted into criminal prosecution for sex crimes.

But nothing prevents US prosecutors from initiating criminal prosecutions against Andrés in the future if they believe he could have committed a crime.

But, for former prosecutor Roger Canaff, eventual criminal prosecutions for “sexual assault” would have no “legal basis” for US federal justice, and would be prescribed in the state of New York.

Furthermore, even if the British royal prince does not have diplomatic immunity according to the press, American jurists estimate that it would be very difficult to extradite him to the United States for a trial.