The case eclipses the entry into office of the new government. Damien Abad, defector from the Republicans and new Minister of Solidarity, is accused of rape by two women. This is an article from Mediapart (subscribers only) who brought these testimonies to the attention of the general public on May 21. But it follows from the report sent by one of the two women to the Observatory sexist and sexual violence in politics, who transmitted it to officials of LR and LREM.
This revelation highlights this association, which had never before contributed to bringing out testimonies but took a stand against many other appointments or nominations. She organize a demonstration against what she describes as “government of shame”Tuesday May 24, at 6 p.m., in Paris. Franceinfo explains how it works.
1What is the Observatory?
It is not an official body, but an association created in February 2022. According to its statutes, its purpose is to “support and facilitate actions aimed at promoting the place of women in public life and combating sexist and sexual violence”. Its name is completed with the keyword #MeTooPolitique. Its creation was intended “to register over time” this movement, born ofa column published in The world in November 2021explains one of its co-founders, Mathilde Viot, to West France. In this text, 285 women involved in politics called the “political world” to “assume its responsibilities and remove the perpetrators of sexual and gender-based violence from its ranks”.
For the Observatory, the personalities accused of this type of facts should not be able to access public responsibilities, even if they have not been convicted. “In a business, you can be laid off with or without pay while the investigation is being carried out. It should be the same in politics,” argued Mathilde Viot in an interview with AFP. In February, in a questionnaire, the association asked presidential candidates to commit to applying this principle in their future appointments of ministers and legislative nominations. Since then, his activity has mainly consisted in denouncing the candidacies of several men seeking a mandate after having been publicly implicated and, sometimes, condemned.
The Observatory also received several testimonies implicating political leaders, women who “spontaneously turned” to the association in the absence of “structure dedicated to the collection of words in politics”says Fiona Texeire, another of its co-founders, to West France. A role that is not his “primary calling”, adds Mathilde Viot in the article of the regional daily. The activists plead for a state structure to fulfill this mission, suggesting entrusting it to the High Authority for the Transparency of Public Life, an independent body which checks in particular the declarations of interests of ministers and elected officials. “We are an association, voluntary, without means. We may not do everything perfectly, but during this time, the State does nothing”they wrote in a series of messages on Tuesday on Twitter.
2Who are its founders?
The Observatory was co-founded by five women, four of whom are involved in politics, all on the left. The best known is Alice Coffin, feminist and LGBT activist and elected EELV to the Council of Paris, where she had mobilized for the resignation of Christophe Girard in 2020.
Madeline Da Silva, member of the feminist collective #NousToutes, is deputy to the socialist mayor of Lilas (Seine-Saint-Denis). Mathilde Viot, who works for LFI deputies Danièle Obono and François Ruffin, co-founded in 2016 an association to denounce sexism in the Assembly and the Senate, Chair collaborator. Also a collaborator of elected officials, Fiona Texeire notably exercised in the Senate and in the office of former Socialist Prime Minister Bernard Cazeneuve. She co-hosts a feminist podcast with the fifth member of the group, journalist Hélène Goutany.
Before creating this association, they had co-authored the column published in November 2021. Tuesday, on Twitterthey defended themselves from being “a far-left pharmacy”judging “logic” that the subject be brought forward by women who are themselves involved in politics.
3What is his role in the Abad case?
It is this association which received by mail the testimony of the second woman who accuses Damien Abad, on May 13, according to Mediapart (the first had filed a complaint in 2012 then 2017). She claims to have found the minister in a bar, in 2010, and to have suffered a “black out” after a single glass of champagne. She explains that she woke up the next morning in a hotel room, next to Damien Abad and “in underwear”when she had explained to him that she did not want “go out with him”.
The Observatory says it sent this letter to several officials of LR, Damien Abad’s party, and LREM, which he was about to join, on May 16, then again on May 19, when the former boss LR deputies announced that they would leave their party, before being appointed to the government the next day.
Franceinfo was able to consult the second email sent to the managers of Renaissance, the new name of LREM. “We received the attached letter a few days ago, which mentions accusations of rape against Damien Abad, against whom your movement has decided not to present a candidate and whom you thus seem to dub”writes the Observatory (the government had not yet been named). “The seriousness of the facts mentioned therein makes it imperative that it be brought to your attention.”
The recipient who sent this email to franceinfo claims not to have found any trace of the first message that the Observatory says it sent on May 16. Several recipients said they did not receive either message, or discovered them after Damien Abad was appointed to the government. “We tried to reach them by all means”via publicly available email addresses, justified Mathilde Viot in an interview with Liberation (reserved for subscribers), tuesday. “Our goal was not to trap them by making them miss our message. Our goal was for Damien Abad not to be a minister.”
The Observatory claims to have also transmitted the report, on May 20, to the Paris prosecutor’s office, which confirmed having received it. The testimony was still being reviewed Tuesday morning.
4What other cases has the Observatory taken on?
If Fiona Texeire affirms to West France that the association has received other testimonies, “of gravity (…) and different temporalities”this is the first time that she has contributed to the revelation of accusations.
On Twitter, the Observatory took a stand against several legislative candidacies, including that of Eric Zemmour, the founder of Reconquête!, accused of sexual violence by eight women. But also against the possible investiture by LREM of several outgoing deputies or personalities accused or convicted. Among them, Jérôme Peyrat, invested by LREM in Gironde and sentenced for violence against his ex-companion, who finally retired on May 18. Only one of the candidates singled out has been invested by the party: Yves Blein, outgoing deputy of the Rhône, targeted by a preliminary investigation for sexual harassment and who rejects this accusation.
The activists are also protesting against the appointment to the government of Stanislas Guerini and the renewals of Gérald Darmanin and Eric Dupond-Moretti. It’s against this casting that they had called to demonstrate Tuesday, before the Damien Abad affair broke out. They criticize Stanislas Guerini for supporting Jérôme Peyrat, before he finally asked him to step down. As for Gérald Darmanin, his appointment is criticized because of the rape charges brought against the minister, on which the prosecution requested a dismissal. The arrival of Eric Dupond-Moretti at the Ministry of Justice in 2020 had been contested by feminist organizations and activists, including one of the founders of the Observatory, due to past statements.
On Monday, the association also challenged La France insoumise on Twitter about an article published by the magazine chat in 2018. Two party activists accuse a man, now a deputy, of sexual assault. “Has this deputy implicated in sexual assault been reinvested?” questions the message of the Observatory (all the outgoing male deputies of the party represent themselves, with the exception of Jean-Luc Mélenchon). Asked by The ParisianMathilde Viot justified the fact that the Observatory did not position itself on the subject of the former LFI candidate Taha Bouhafs by a question of timing: “When Taha Bouhafs withdraws, Mediapart has not yet released its article revealing these accusations. If he had remained a candidate, we would have denounced him with as much force.”