Reported in July to the investigation unit on sexual and gender-based violence within Europe-Ecologie-Les Verts, Julien Bayou resigned last Monday from his post as national secretary of the party. A structure “disqualified“according to the lawyer of the elected Parisian. “On four occasions, Julien Bayou asked in writing to be heard in front of this cell, which was purely and simply refused.“, reported Maître Marie Dosé. franceinfo investigated this cell. If its members were instructed not to communicate with the press, franceinfo was able to collect the testimony of a victim who also denounces flaws. According to her , one of the members of the cell contacted his alleged attacker while the report is supposed to remain secret.
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The story goes back to the effective beginnings of the Greens’ listening cell, during 2020. The young woman, Louise (the first name has been changed), an activist since 2017 with the Greens, claims to be the victim of a traumatic sexual assault at the summer 2020 from a party executive in Île-de-France. Two months later, she chose to seize the ten members of the sexual and gender-based violence listening cell, by email (as required by the procedure). A report in theory strictly confidential. But less than two days after her testimony, her attacker contacted her multiple times. Calls, messages that frighten the victim. “One of the cell members contacted my attacker to tell him that I had made a report. All these calls, these messages, II was afraid that he would come and harass me at home. I didn’t think that by grabbing the cell, my attacker would be protected by a number of people“, she regrets.
franceinfo was able to reach this former member of the cell who allegedly leaked the report. He is an influential party executive in Ile-de-France and sits on the Federal Council. If he does not deny “having informed the aggressor of this report very early on“, he denies having communicated the name of the victim. According to him, it was “a collective decision and not an individual initiative to warn another manager and friend“. However, according to several sources within the Greens, it is this initiative which has “justified his departure from the listening cell“.
For his part, the alleged attacker of Louise was suspended and he resigned in December 2020, even before being auditioned. Today, Louise has bitter memories of reporting her to the listening cell. According to her, other victims have given up entering the cell in turn. “Some people who got wind of my story told me: for the moment, I don’t dare testify. That kind of thing doesn’t inspire confidence. It is not possible that this inspires confidence.“
“The processing of my case was more difficult than the attack itself, in a certain way.”
Franceinfo contacted Jérémie Crépel. He is deputy national secretary of the party and is one of those who are developing the cell on sexual and gender-based violence (VSS cell). “If it’s true – I don’t have any information or elements on it – it’s indeed serious. And in this case, it’s good that he didn’t stay in this cell, since this derogates from the obligations of its members. This is also why we have put in place, from February 2022, new protocols to ensure that there is no information that comes out of the cell.”
The VSS cell is made up of ten members, a majority of whom are women, 50% federal elected officials, 50% activists who must collect more than two-thirds of the votes on their behalf to be elected. Their names are public. They are trained by the private group Egae of Caroline de Haas, well known in the fight against gender-based violence.
At the end of their contradictory investigation and interviews which are often carried out by video, they send their report and – if necessary – their proposal for sanctions to two members of the executive office of the Greens. It’s new, it dates from this year. Before, the entire Federal Council – more than 200 people – received these explosive reports by email and at the same time.