New rape complaints taint the government. An investigation was opened after the filing of two rape complaints against the Secretary of State for Development Chrysoula Zacharopoulou. She is reproached by patients for actions that she would have imposed on them when she practiced as a gynecologist. The investigation was entrusted to the Brigade for the repression of delinquency against the person (BRDP).
The first complaint denouncing facts of rape was filed on May 25 and the investigation opened two days later, before a second complaint dated June 16 for facts of the same nature, the Paris prosecutor’s office said on Wednesday. According to the weekly Marianne, the facts alleged against Chrysoula Zacharopoulou were allegedly committed in the context of her profession as a gynecologist, and concern for the second complaint an adult woman.
A third woman, Jade (first name changed), now 26 years old and living in the Paris region, told AFP on Wednesday that she consulted Chrysoula Zacharopoulou for endometriosis problems, including this 46-year-old Franco-Greek gynecologist. made his specialty. In 2017, she was named Knight of the National Order of Merit for her work on endometriosis.
The appointment, made with Doctor Zacharopoulou for his fame and specifically because he is a woman, took place at the end of 2016 in the presence of a male doctor trainee. According to the account of Jade, the gynecologist “forced his intern to examine me“. At the time the patient’s feet were in the stirrups, the medical specialist “felt that I was not at all comfortable, he was not at all comfortable either, my body was closed, blocked, he felt it“, she described. “Then it was her turn. She said to me, using familiar terms: ‘You’re going to have to open. Me, I am not him. She was trying, trying, she wasn’t happy at all, and I was very nervous, tense and stuck“, she said. The young woman said she did not remember if the gynecologist had obtained her consent before examining her, as a growing number of practitioners do today.
Jade, who says she experienced this event”at least as a sexual assault“, did not press charges at this stage.”I thought no one would believe me, but today is different“, she said, adding that she “hesitate” to do so. Sonia Bisch, founder of StopVOGfr, told AFP that her collective against obstetric and gynecological violence had “received three testimonials” concerning her, dating from 2013, 2016 and 2020, evoking “gynecological violence (…) from three other patients who did not file a complaint“.
A prestigious CV
Born in Sparta, Chrysoula Zacharopoulou studied in Italy before practicing in France, at the Bégin military hospital in Saint-Mandé (Val-de-Marne) then at the Hôpitaux de Paris (AP-HP), notably in Tenon. in the service of Pr Émile Daraï, under investigation for accusations of rape. Asked by AFP, the AP-HP replied that it had “never heard of a complaint or report concerning Dr. Chrysoula Zacharopoulou“.
“The CHU set up a commission of inquiry at the end of September 2021 following the accusations concerning Professor Émile Daraï“, a renowned Parisian gynecologist targeted by several complaints, and “particular attention has been paid to the reporting and processing of patient complaints”, specified the AP-HP.
Chrysoula Zacharopoulou – elected in 2019 on the Renaissance list in the European Parliament, where she notably sat on the Committee on Women’s Rights – is a doctor who has long been involved in the issue of endometriosis. She had submitted a report on the subject to the French government last year. She entered the government at the end of May as Secretary of State for Development, La Francophonie and International Partnerships, to the Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs. So far, she has not responded to the accusations.
Chrysoula Zacharopoulou remains presumed innocent of the charges against her until the conclusions of the investigation.