One of the founders and ex-president of the Refuge foundation, which houses LGBT + people rejected by their families, has been indicted for “rape” and “sexual assault”announced this Friday the public prosecutor of Montpellier. “Nicolas Noguier was indicted for rape and sexual assault”, says Fabrice Belargent in a press release. The companion of Nicolas Noguier, co-founder and ex-director of the Refuge, Frédéric Gal, was also indicted “for two acts of sexual harassment”adds the magistrate.
The two men were also charged with “hidden work and moral harassment of several employees and volunteers of the foundation”. They were placed “under judicial supervision with a ban on entering into contact with the plaintiffs in the case and on carrying out an activity in regular contact with minors or vulnerable people”, specifies the representative of the public ministry. The two indicted formally contested during their police custody all of the acts of a sexual nature with which they are accused and “produced evidence in support of their statements”. They also contested concealed work and moral harassment, also indicates the prosecutor.
“Structural dysfunctions”
After eighteen years at the head of the Refuge, an important association within the LGBT + community, the two men had resigned in February 2021 from their respective functions of president and director after a controversy born in December from an article in the information site vitriol Mediapart on their internal management.
A partial audit then pointed the finger at “structural dysfunctions […] imposing a strong and urgent reaction”emphasizing that this foundation having known “strong growth” rested on “totally artisanal operation”. He was raising “a climate of mistrust and malaise at work for a significant part of the actors” from the Association.
The public prosecutor’s office had for its part carried out a preliminary investigation in March 2021 after complaints and reports from individuals or associations concerning criminal offenses committed at the headquarters of the Refuge in Montpellier and in some of its branches spread over the national territory.
Some notably reported sexual violence (rape, sexual assault and sexual harassment) which would have been committed by the two men on adults or minors welcomed within the structure, recalled the prosecutor Belargent.