The LFI deputy, newly elected chairman of the Assembly’s Finance Committee, denies the facts of which he is accused and does not rule out filing a complaint for defamation.
Sophie Tissier, figure of the movement of “yellow vests” and ex-candidate (Various) for the legislative elections, sent a report by e-mail to the committee against sexist and sexual violence of France Insoumise (LFI), she indicated on Twitter. She also filed apre-complaintand is considering a complaint, she said this Sunday evening on BFM-TV.
In this message, she denounces the actions of the deputy Éric Coquerel, freshly elected to the presidency of the finance committee of the assembly. These facts would have occurred in 2014, during an evening in Grenoble.
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According to Sophie Tissier quoted by Mediapart, Éric Coquerel would have had “wandering hand all eveningdespite his recriminations. She would also have receivedseveral text messages to get us home together“.
“It was not a physical attack in the sense that there was no physical violence“, she judged on BFM-TV“but the harassment was still traumatic“. “I don’t want him to go so far as to resign“, but “that he recognizes the facts, that he hears what I have to say and says + yes it’s true, I had inappropriate behavior +“, she added.
Since his election as head of the Finance Committee, Éric Coquerel has been the subject of strong criticism from certain feminist figures. Thursday evening on RTL, journalist Rokhaya Diallo shared her “astonishment“, indicating to have”several sources within LFI, I heard several times from women who spoke to me about the behavior he would have with women“.
Read alsoCoquerel denounces “unfounded rumors” about his behavior towards women
The new president of the Finance Committee, in the wake of Sophie Tissier’s tweet, denied on the set of BFMTV having committed wrongdoing. “This report has been contradictory over time. I’ve been a victim for months of rumors, from absolutely nothing“, supported Éric Coquerel. “We will see (…) if there is a complaint on substantiated facts, in court, I would be very surprised since Sophie Tissier herself recognizes that there is no criminal act. I believe that there will be no complaint, all that will be pschitt“, added the deputy of Seine-Saint-Denis, who does not exclude filing a complaint for defamation. “I never imagined myself as a man of power. I am one of the most attentive and respectful Members of the Assembly“, he wanted to clarify.
Éric Coquerel finally rejected any parallel between his situation and that of Minister Damien Abad, who is the subject of a judicial inquiry after a complaint of attempted rape. If, according to him,citizen Abad is entitled to the presumption of innocence», his capacity as minister would make «preferable» that he leaves office.
The frames form a block
The person concerned had defended himself earlier in a column published by the Sunday newspaper in which he wondered:how to react to a rumor that is not based on any complaint, no reporting to LFI’s internal cell, despite frequent calls and press releases from LFI to be able to do so, no public testimony, no results of serious journalistic investigation in addition to five years ?” The deputy says he never “exercised physical or psychological violence or coercion to obtain a report“.
LFI executives have so far closed ranks behind the LFI deputy for the 1st district of Seine-Saint-Denis. Jean-Luc Mélenchon said to himself “disgusted by the attacks against Éric Coquerel carried out for 5 years without facts or evidence by a small band which exploits and stunts the crucial fight against gender-based and sexual violence to settle its personal scores“. LFI’s committee against gender-based and sexual violence, for its part, assured that it had not received any report against Éric Coquerel so far.
Finally Yaël Braun-Pivet, the new LREM president of the National Assembly, judged “sad» that Éric Coquerel «neededto publicly defend himself against the allegations against him. “It is absolutely necessary to keep reason, all, collectively. The machine must not get carried away by rumours. I invite each victim to file a complaint“, she launched on France 3.
SEE ALSO – Éric Coquerel denouncesunfounded rumorson his behavior towards women