Charges that poison the first weeks of Emmanuel Macron’s second five-year term. DSince his appointment on May 20 in the government of Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne, the new Minister of Solidarity Damien Abad, the main takeover of the macronie on the right after the presidential election, has been accused of rape or attempted rape by three women whose testimonies were revealed by Mediapart. Franceinfo takes stock of this affair, which is embarrassing for the executive in the context of the legislative elections.
1Just after his appointment as minister, two first women accuse Damien Abad of rape
The day after the appointment of Damien Abad as Minister of Solidarity, Autonomy and People with Disabilities, in an article published by Mediapart on May 21, two women accuse the new minister of having raped them in 2010 and 2011.
The first woman, a Young Democrat activist named Margaux, claims to have lived in January 2011 a strong sexual relationship “disrespect, injunction and insistence”, that she tried to stop, after consenting. She also claims to have suffered an imposed anal penetration, despite a refusal pronounced in such a way “affirmed” and “Many times”. The latter filed a complaint twice, but her two complaints were dismissed in 2012, then in 2017, first for “lack of the complainant” then “for lack of sufficiently serious infringement”.
The second woman who testifies suspected Damien Abad to have it “drugged” in the fall of 2010, when she found him in a bar. She claims to Mediapart that she woke up the next morning “in a hotel room near the bar” with the politician, “in underwear”, “in a state of shock and deep disgust”. “I felt cottony, my body was groggy, achy and sore, I knew something was wrong.”she recalls.
The Observatory of gender-based and sexual violence in politics, to which she made a report on May 13, transmitted her story to justice, but also to the management of LREM and LR, who claim not to have had knowledge of the mail before the appointment of the minister.
2The opposition and feminist associations demand the resignation of the minister
After the revelation of these accusations by Mediapart, the government is summoned to act by the opposition. “There are clear signals to give, we cannot relive what we experienced in the Hulot affair, reacts the first secretary of the Socialist Party Olivier Faure, asking for the resignation of Damien Abad. same for me Sandrine Rousseau, finalist in the environmental primary for the presidential election, who demands that the minister be “removed from his post as a precautionary principle”. “The mere fact of repeatedly having inappropriate behavior with women should keep you away from a ministerial post”also believes Marine Le Pen.
“Damien Abad should be fired from the governmentsays feminist activist Caroline De Haas on franceinfo. When a minister is implicated for acts of rape, we can quite make the decision not to have people implicated in his government. It’s a political decision.”
The Observatory of Sexist and Sexual Violence, an association made up of left-wing elected officials who helped reveal the affair, is also calling for his resignation and organize a demonstration against what he describes as “government of shame”May 24.
3Elisabeth Borne says she was not aware
During a trip to Thury-Harcourt, in Calvados, the day after the revelations, Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne reacted to the accusations. She assures: “I discovered the Mediapart article yesterday.” “I have no more elements than the fact that the case has been closed without further action”she continues in front of journalists.
During her trip, the Prime Minister nevertheless showed firmness, suggesting that she would be ready to demand the resignation of the minister in the event of the case being brought to court. “I can assure you that if there are new elements, if justice is again seized, we will draw all the consequences of this decision”she assures. “I will be very clear: on all these subjects of harassment, sexual assault, there can be no impunity”, warned the Prime Minister.
This version of the facts is questionable. Because Matignon was well aware of the requests for reaction from Mediapart several hours before the revelations of the investigation site, as revealed by franceinfo.
4Damien Abad refutes the accusations
Questioned by the investigation site, the new minister formally disputes the facts and holds “to affirm with force that the sexual relations that[il a] may have have always been based on the principle of mutual consent“. The member for Ain also asserts that he is “physically impossible to commit the acts described“due to the rare congenital neuromuscular disease from which he suffers, arthrogryposis.
“I have never raped a single woman in my life”also defended Damien Abad, during a short statement from his constituency, two days after the revelations, assuring that he did not plan to resign. “Should an innocent man resign? I don’t think so”he added.
In an interview at Figaro (subscribers article) published the same day, he confirms that he remains a candidate in the legislative elections in the 5th district of Ain and considers that they will be “justices of the peace”.
5Several LR executives reveal having been aware of “rumors”
Two days after the Mediapart revelations, Christian Jacob, president of the Republicans, told the Point (article subscribers) do not have “never been seized, neither by the Observatory of sexual and sexist violence nor by the services of the National Assembly” of the Abad case. However, he assures us that in the face of “rumors of a complaint filed (…) in 2017”he had interviewed Damien Abad, who “replied that all of this was false and that he had never been summoned by the courts”. “Obviously” that the government was “informed”, he also asserts RTL a few days later.
Eric Woerth, LR defector to LREM, confesses at the end of May on franceinfo to have heard “rumors” in 2017 concerning Damien Abad, when they were both members of LR.
6The Paris prosecutor’s office chooses not to open an investigation “as is”
The story of the first woman who accuses Damien Abad of rape and who never filed a complaint is sent to justice by the Observatory of sexist and sexual violence. But the Paris prosecutor’s office announced on May 25 that it was not opening a preliminary investigation. “as is” on these charges, fault “element allowing to identify the victim of the denounced facts”.
While an investigation is systematically opened as soon as a victim is a minor at the time of the facts mentioned, even in the absence of a complaint, in the case of an adult victim, the prosecution only opens an investigation if the victims seize him of a complaint.
7Emmanuel Macron is arrested by a high school student on the Abad (and Darmanin) cases
Emmanuel Macron is strongly challenged, during a trip to Gaillac (Tarn), Thursday, June 9, by Laura, a high school student. “You put at the head of the state men who are accused of rape and violence against women, why?”, launched it, during a walkabout of the president, referring to Gérald Darmanin and Damien Abad. freedom of speech, “I accompanied her and I will continue to accompany her, to protect her. At the same time, to function in society you must have the presumption of innocence”replies the head of state.
The next day, the gendarmes go to see the young woman while she is in high school. She explains to Parisian to have been interrupted in the middle of class for a “maintenance” with gendarmes in a room of his high school, a gendarme reproaching him for his behavior the day before, saying that this “was not to do”, according to his testimony. The initial scene, and the reaction of the Tarn gendarmerie, are widely commented on on social networks, prompting the police to apologize.
8A third woman accuses Damien Abad of attempted rape
Tuesday, June 14, the Minister of Solidarity is targeted by new charges published by Mediapart. “Laëtitia” (assumed first name), “elected centrist”accuses Damien Abad of having tried to rape her during a party organized at his home in Paris in the first half of 2010.
“Laëtitia” says that, on the evening of the events, Damien Abad told her “offered a drink” at the bottom of which she saw “Something”. Suspicious, she went to spit out her sip in the toilet. Also according to this woman’s account, the MEP was waiting for her behind the door when she left the toilets and allegedly “pushed into a room opposite” then tried to force her to perform fellatio. “Laëtitia” says she was finally able “come undone” of his alleged assailant and leave the room thanks to the irruption of a guest. This woman’s story is “supported by the testimonies of eight people, to whom she confided or who may have witnessed certain elements of her story”and that Mediapart contacted.
9Damien Abad denounces a “carefully chosen calendar”
A few hours after the second story published by Mediapart, the minister denounced to AFP the “partiality” of the media’s investigation, which according to him has a motivation “Politics”. He castigates the “carefully chosen schedule of these publications”, during the interval between the legislative elections. The former head of LR deputies, candidate for re-election in Ain, came out on top in the first round, despite a campaign disturbed by these accusations. “As for the reported allegations, they revolt me and I categorically refute them”he added to AFP.
For his part, Matignon reacts after the publication of the article by assuring that “the Prime Minister cannot comment on the anonymous testimonies” but “invites these women to file a complaint so that justice can do its job.” A position maintained by the head of government, Wednesday, on a campaign trip to Calvados where she is a candidate.