A former collaborator of the deputy Benoît Simian (ex-LREM) testifies to the inappropriate behavior that this one maintained with her. At the same time, LREM deputy Sira Sylla is targeted for her brutal working methods. Faced with these two cases, the National Assembly remains silent.
The scene went unnoticed. However, it is revealing of the atmosphere in the National Assembly. On Wednesday, while all eyes were on the examination of the text on the vaccination pass, the deputy LFI Clémentine Autain made a shocking statement from the rostrum. “Our hemicycle has a deputy who has been increasing harassment and threats against his ex-wife for several years. She is however the holder of a very dangerous telephone ”, indignant the elected representative of Seine-Saint-Denis, recalling that “The office of the National Assembly refused to lift parliamentary immunity” of the member in question. She won’t name him.
On the Macronist benches, as on those of the opposition, no one is unaware that it is Benoît Simian, deputy of Gironde (ex-LREM) of which Clémentine Autain speaks. Accused by his ex-partner of “bullying” since their separation, he will be tried in correctional on March 24. The contradiction between the public positions of the deputy and his actions in private did not fail to be raised. Benoît Simian, for example, was in favor of the law against domestic violence in 2020, which provided in particular to increase the penalties in the event of moral harassment within a couple.
“She will spend the night bundled up on the ground”
But it does not stop there. The deputy is overtaken by new revelations. This time in an issue that directly concerns his mandate as a deputy. Juliette *, one of his collaborators, has been on sick leave since August. She tells in Mediapart his working relationship with the Member. “The first evening, they dine with Benoît Simian’s parents. At bedtime, surprise, only one room is available, the one the deputy occupied when he was a teenager. The young woman refuses to sleep with him in bed, so she will spend the night bundled up on the floor. “
One of the following nights, “Benoît Simian announces to his collaborator that they will sleep together again, in the same hotel room, according to the account she made of it afterwards”, writes the investigative site. Juliet * “Agrees to sleep with him in the bedroom, in two twin beds, having no other choice. In the evening, while she takes a shower, the deputy tries, according to her, to enter the bathroom by trying to open the sliding door which separates her from the rest of the room. She is firmly opposed to it ”, recount Mediapart. Confirmed information at Release.
In the version of events he gives to Mediapart, the deputy would only have requested his assistant for him “Ask for toothpaste”, without wanting to enter the bathroom while showering. He also points “Political differences” to explain the deterioration of their relationship, as well as organizational problems related to teleworking. “Confidence is broken”, he said simply.
Champagne during curfew
At the same time, and without there being any link, we learn in the Journal d’Elbeuf that several former parliamentary assistants accuse LREM MP Sira Sylla of having used “Abusive methods”. Elected for the first time in 2017, she would have worked with no less than 17 employees. Which would earn him the inglorious nickname of “Collab supermarket”. Among them, three took the decision to take the matter to the industrial tribunal. One explains receiving “Emails, text messages in the night, threats and insulting messages” from the member. He did the math: 2,000 SMS appear to him “Abusive”. Pierre * also told the local newspaper: “Sometimes she would call my dad in the middle of the night when I wasn’t answering.”
When the deputy called her in the middle of the night, “it was for [lui] say that[il] betrayed her, that she could not [lui] to trust and that[il] was doing his job badly “ he adds to the Norman newspaper. The collaborator then recounts a scene that seems unbelievable. In full curfew, Sira Sylla would have asked him to defy the ban for him “Bring champagne”. If he refused, she told him “Would make you drool”. Here again, the consequences on his balance were not long in coming: Pierre quickly became “Cold and distant” with his relatives. “I have post-traumatic shock, I’m not ready to get over it”, he explains. Still on sick leave, he is now awaiting the court decision. The defense of the deputy LREM is classic. She talks about “gossip”. “I don’t want to answer that”, she adds again to Journal d’Elbeuf.
What is striking, in both cases, is the lack of reaction from the National Assembly. However, two years ago, its president, Richard Ferrand, presented the operating methods of the new anti-harassment unit of the institution, truly launched on February 1, 2020. Staffed with doctors, lawyers and psychologists, this structure aimed to listen to and support the words of victims of harassment, in Paris and in the constituency. In a first report drawn up in April 2021, 39 people had entered this cell, with as many men as women. The cell is “A first step forward”, but did “Not allowed to put an end to harassment situations”, estimated several organizations, including the CFDT, Solidaires and FO in November. They regretted, for example, “That no file has been transmitted to the public prosecutor so that the latter can assess possible prosecutions”.
* The first name has been changed