He is not yet a candidate, but has already been placed in the second round by certain polls … On November 4, 2021, “Further investigation” examines a phenomenon which is derailing the pre-presidential campaign. In twenty years of abuse on television, the polemicist Eric Zemmour has already been condemned by the courts, in particular for “provocation to racial discrimination”. In recent months, he has also been accused of sexual assault by several women. There are seven of them, and all of them would have crossed paths with him during his career. Their testimonies were revealed by Mediapart.
In “Further investigation” on November 4, 2021, one of them testifies for the first time on television – with a hidden face, for fear of reprisals on social networks. The facts date back to 2005. Just graduated from her journalism school, Anne dreams of working at Figaro. She contacts Eric Zemmour, who is part of the daily editorial staff. The journalist allegedly invited her for a coffee. She is 26 years old, he is 46. The rest is recounted in the young woman’s diary, which she would have written at the time.
“From the first minutes, he raised my lock on my face. He told me that I had beautiful eyes, a beautiful smile. I was really upset. Wrong.“The young woman writes that she tried to push him away, kindly. But in vain.
“When I get up, he has paid for the coffees, and I say to him ‘Thank you very much for the coffee’. As he gets up, he says to me ‘Ah, but you will thank me differently’, and there he sticks his tongue at me. in his mouth. It’s unexpected, disgusting, filthy. We get out of the cafe, and he starts again saying goodbye to me. “
Anneto “Further investigation”
After this episode, the young woman says she was contacted “fast enough“by Eric Zemmour,”to see each other, and more if affinities“. This time, she succeeds in opposing him a firm refusal. She then receives a very clear message, according to her:”And there, in a few words, he makes me understand that this is how it works in journalism, and that I will not achieve much if I do not bow to a small passage in his bed “, she declares to the “Further investigation” team.
In 2005, Anne explains, the MeToo movement does not yet exist, and she is not aware that it could be a sexual assault. In his entourage, “no one realizes the seriousness of the actNeither she nor the six other women who testified in the press have since filed a complaint. Most of the alleged facts would be time barred.
For Eric Zemmour’s lawyer, Me Olivier Pardo, there is simply no case: “No complaints, assertions… how do you respond to that? It is part of the obligatory attacks: sexism, racism, extremism… all this does not hold, in a moment of political campaign.“According to his defenders, Eric Zemmour would therefore be the victim of attacks intended to weaken him …
Extract from “Zemmour: Veni, Vidi, Vichy”, a document of “Complément d’inquête” to be seen on November 4, 2021.
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