Tjust formed and already under pressure: the French government went to court on Monday to “decide” the case of a minister accused of rape, an embarrassing affair for President Emmanuel Macron who has promised “zero tolerance” on violence against women. Minister Damien Abad, in charge of Solidarity, Autonomy and People with Disabilities, is accused by two women of rape in 2010 and 2011, allegations he rejects. “I have never raped a single woman in my life,” he told reporters on Monday evening, saying “I contest these accusations of sexual assault with great firmness”.
The minister, himself disabled, has again ruled out any idea of resignation. Two rape complaints have already been closed, but justice says it is analyzing a new report. Questioned after a government meeting on Monday morning, the new spokeswoman, Olivia Grégoire, argued President Macron’s policy of “zero tolerance for sex offenders”, but left it to the courts to decide. this case, despite calls for resignation from the left opposition.
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New Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne, who spoke with Damien Abad on Sunday evening according to the spokeswoman, said she only learned of the allegations on Saturday in an article by online media outlet Mediapart, which revealed the affair. The Prime Minister assured not “to have been aware” of these cases when the composition of her government. Officials of La République en Marche (LREM) alerted by the Observatory claim for their part that they have not read the e-mails which had been sent to them.
Emails as of May 16
But according to information from France Info, the version of Elisabeth Borne could be undermined. First, Marine Turchi, the journalist behind the revelations in Mediapart, claims to have contacted Matignon on Friday, before the article was published, referring in an e-mail to the various complaints and “Damien Abad’s behavior with collaborators”. “They cannot say, Sunday morning, that they discover things with the Mediapart article, it is completely false”, she protests. France Info assures that members of the Prime Minister’s office read the email and the follow-up email that followed, all of this coming after the announcement of the new government.
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Which is not the case with another alert. Indeed, the Observatory of gender-based and sexual violence in politics claims to have sent a report by e-mail on Monday, May 16 about Damien Abad. A first letter was sent to Stanislas Guerini, LREM manager, to former minister Christophe Castaner, to MP Bérangère Couillard and to LR Aurélien Pradié. This at the request of the victims. Stanislas Guerini will say that he did not consult this address in time, Christophe Castaner will have received it in his undesirables. “Even if we had seen the e-mail, these are very short deadlines to respond, defends a member of the majority. It’s hypocrisy to say that they couldn’t get an answer. And there was anyway a desire to alert the press. The timing has been politically instrumentalized. »