Since June 2022, the short-lived Minister of Solidarity has been the subject of a preliminary investigation by the Paris prosecutor’s office for “attempted rape”, after a complaint on facts which would date back to the beginning of the 2010s. The deputy wishes “to be heard by justice like any other citizen.
Damien Abad, who claimed to“to be heard by the courts like any other citizen”, saw his wish granted: the parliamentary immunity of the deputy of Ain was lifted, Wednesday, May 24, by the office of the National Assembly. The investigations launched within the framework of the accusations of rape of which he is the subject will be able to continue. The former Minister of Solidarity, appointed in May 2022 and who had left the government in July of the same year, has been the target of a preliminary investigation for “attempted rape” for almost a year. Franceinfo takes stock of this case.
Three women accuse Damien Abad of rape
The Abad affair began in May 2022, when Mediapart published the testimony of two women, who accused the brand new Minister of Solidarity of having raped them in 2010 and 2011. The first woman, an activist for the Young Democrats, claims to have suffered in January 2011 an imprint sexual relationship “disrespect, injunction and insistence”, whom she tried to stop, after consenting to it. She also claims to have undergone forced anal penetration, despite a refusal pronounced in a manner “affirmed” And “Many times”. She filed a complaint twice, but her two complaints were dismissed in 2012, then in 2017, first for “complainant’s deficiency”Then “for lack of a sufficiently serious offence”.
The second woman who testifies in the Mediapart article suspects Damien Abad of having it “drugged” in the fall of 2010, when she found him in a bar. She says 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”.
A preliminary investigation opened for “attempted rape”
In mid-June 2022, the one who is still a minister 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. She says that the then MEP would have tried to force her to perform oral sex. “Laëtitia” says she was finally able “s[‘en] to do” 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, writes Mediapart.
After the publication of these latest accusations and the filing of a complaint, the Paris prosecutor’s office opened an investigation for “attempted rape”. The investigations are entrusted to the police officers of the Brigade for the repression of delinquency against the person (BRDP).
Damien Abad denies the accusations against him
Very quickly, Damien Abad denies these accusations. In reaction to these testimonies, the chosen one quickly held “to affirm with force that the sexual relations that[il a] may have always been based on the principle of mutual consent”. The deputy of Ain, re-elected in June 2022, also assures 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”defends Damien Abad in a short statement from his constituency, after the revelations.
In July 2022, the minister is not reappointed to the government during a reshuffle. THE “conditions of serenity” are not “no longer present”explains Olivier Véran, government spokesperson.
His parliamentary immunity is lifted
On May 17, Damien Abad said to himself “favorable” the lifting of his parliamentary immunity. “I have always said that I was at the disposal of justice in order to be able to answer the questions of the investigators and to defend myself against the despicable slanders of which I am the target. I will defend myself tirelessly in order to prove my innocence and clear my honor”he said in a statement.
Informed by the services of the National Assembly of the request made for the lifting of his immunity, the elected official specified that he had written to the president of the institution, Yaël Braun-Pivet, “so that the Bureau can decide as soon as possible” and accede to this request. Parliamentary immunity is a derogation from which all deputies and senators benefit. A parliamentarian cannot be the object of an arrest or any other measure depriving or restricting his liberty without authorization from the Bureau of the Assembly, except for a crime, flagrante delicto or final conviction.
Requests for waiver of immunity are made by the public prosecutor’s office and forwarded by the Keeper of the Seals to the president of the assembly concerned. The office decides on the character “serious, loyal and sincere” of the request, not on the merits. Waiver of immunity paves the way for coercive measures. For example, the MP concerned may be placed in police custody or under judicial supervision. This is what can now happen to the former leader of the LR deputies, now related to the Renaissance group and president of the France-Lebanon friendship group in the National Assembly.