According to the president of the group La France insoumise at the National Assembly, the complainants did not wish to make the testimonies public.
“We have taken our responsibilities.Mathilde Panot tries to put out the fire. Invited this morning from RMC / BFMTV, the deputy La France insoumise (LFI) from Val-de-Marne reacted to the press release published yesterday by Taha Bouhafs on Twitter. “We told Taha Bouhafs that we would not say publicly why he was not a candidate since it was the will of the complainants”explains the very recent president of the LFI group at the National Assembly.
Since yesterday, the controversy rebounds. The journalist and activist LFI affirms in his open letter that the movement wanted to justify his ousting from the race for the legislative elections on the pretext of the racist attacks he was suffering, and not because of the accusations of sexual violence to which he was subjected. . “Why should we lie about the real reason for my withdrawal?asks Taha Bouhafs in this text.
Read alsoLegislative 2022: Taha Bouhafs targeted by an internal investigation by the Insoumis for acts of sexual violence
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Initially, on May 10, he himself withdrew his candidacy for the legislative elections. He then invokedcalumnies» and «accusationswithout specifying what it was. Some rebellious personalities, like Jean-Luc Mélenchon, had then supported him on social networks, denouncing racist attacks against Taha Bouhafs. Just like Clémentine Autain who regretted on Twitter “the violence of the attacks […] against a young man without a diploma, from the neighborhoods and from immigration.»
The complainants wished to remain anonymous, according to Panot
But the real reason for Bouhafs’ withdrawal had finally leaked the next day in BFMTV and Mediapart articles, which mentioned a report sent to the follow-up unit against sexist and sexual violence of La France insoumise. “It is not disguising accusations of gender-based and sexual violence to respect the request of the complainants“, defends today Mathilde Panot. She explains that the accusers wanted to see Taha Bouhafs withdrawn from his candidacy, but also that their testimonies remain anonymous.
A few days after other accusations of sexist and sexual violence, this time targeting the new chairman of the National Assembly’s Finance Committee Éric Coquerel, the return to the news of the Bouhafs affair is part of a complicated sequence for LFI on the subject.
SEE ALSO – Legislative: Taha Bouhafs withdraws his candidacy, announces Alexis Corbière