This is an exemplary case in more than one way. The Paris prosecutor’s office confirmed, on the evening of Thursday May 16, the indictment of Damien Abad “on account of an attempted rape likely to have been committed in 2010” on a centrist elected official. The former minister of solidarity in the government of Elisabeth Borne, who continues to proclaim his innocence, is also placed under the status of assisted witness for two other accusations of sexual violence against two other women.
All three say they were victims of sexual assault committed in 2010 and 2011 by the former president of the Les Républicains (LR) group in the National Assembly. All three had tried to alert, without success. Chloé (first names have been changed) had reported the facts to the Observatory of Sexist and Sexual Violence in Politics, which had transmitted them to LR and Matignon. Margaux had filed a complaint, which was closed in 2017. So many signals which did not prevent the appointment of Mr. Abad to the government in May 2022.
Chloé and Margaux then turned to the press. Their testimonies, published by Mediapart, prompted Laëtitia, a third alleged victim, to speak in turn. His complaint, filed at the end of May 2022, triggered a preliminary investigation, then a judicial investigation, which led two years later to this indictment. “The accusations made by my client from the beginning are consistent and cross-referenced by corroborating testimonies, this expected indictment is logical”, ensures World Laëtitia’s lawyer, Me Mario Stasi.
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The stories of these three women, activists or elected officials, describe a similar pattern. According to them, the deputy for Ain, who was for a long time president of the Young Centrists – a satellite movement of the New Center –, engaged in seduction and flirtatious behavior that was insistent and sometimes inappropriate, whether in an activist setting or at parties. .
Margaux mentioned in her story a relationship in 2011, at the end of a drunken evening, initially consented to, but which she then wanted to end, without success, Mr. Abad imposing sexual acts on her despite her refusals. In January 2024, she filed a new complaint, with the establishment of a civil party. Chloé claims to have agreed, in 2010, to have a drink with Mr. Abad, after which she lost track of the evening, until the morning, when she woke up next to him in a hotel room, under -clothes, without any memory, except the feeling of having been drugged and a feeling of deep unease.
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