The deputy resigned from his post as national secretary of the party after accusations of psychological violence against his ex-companion, without complaint or judicial investigation.
The management of EELV met on Saturday morning with the internal unit responsible for investigating violence against women, after an article by Release revealing that Julien Bayou, who resigned after accusations of psychological violence on an ex-companion, was under the surveillance of feminist activists from the party.
At the end of this meeting, management reaffirmed in a press release its “trustin the work of the party’s internal cell against sexual and gender-based violence. This cell isan unprecedented instance“, who “does a hard job and has been able to deal with, and is still dealing with, all the cases brought to his attention. Without its existence, many people would have had no other solutions“, defends EELV, which ensures that”all people with a link to Julien Bayou have withdrawn from the file“. The cell “did not consider that there was reason to suspend Julien Bayou on a conservatory basis and she is continuing her work and these hearings“, adds the text.
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Deputy National Secretary Jérémie Crépel, who replaces, with Léa Balage, National Secretary Julien Bayou, expressed “our pride in hearing the voices of victims and in dealing seriously with gender-based and sexual violence when others choose to ignore it“.
The leadership of the party is meeting this weekend, for the holding behind closed doors – and already planned – of its federal council, responsible for deciding on the calendar of the next congress, which should take place in December. But the party has been experiencing internal turmoil since the resignation Monday of its national secretary Julien Bayou, to be able to defend itself against accusations of psychological violence against his ex-companion, without complaint or judicial investigation.
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Monitored for three years
On Friday, an article by Release accentuated the discomfort, revealing that for three years, Julien Bayou lived under the pressure of an informal feminist collective which reproached him for his conduct and investigated his relations with women, even going to question his former companions.
But “the global context invites us to talk to each other, Freed or not“says another source. “We are working on a common communication to answer the questions that ariseAnother party official told AFP. For another frame,it is the responsibility of the Executive Office to find the right path and it is therefore normal that it discusses it with the cellinternal listening to the party, the functioning of which has also been criticized.
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According Release, one of the female members of this cell responsible for processing reports of sexual and gender-based violence in the party is also part of the informal group that targeted Julien Bayou’s private life. This is why the management made a point of specifying this Saturday that the people having a link with Julien Bayou had relinquished the file.
In a tweet, the former environmental candidate for the presidential election, Eva Joly, also reacted on Friday to the article by Release: “I have been criticized a lot for being too radical, but the end does not justify the means. These actions outside of any framework serve the cause they are supposed to advance and are dangerous for the very people we claim to protect.“.