For the second time, Julien Bayou withdraws. A year and a half after the start of the “Bayou affair”, the environmentalist deputy, accused by his ex-partner, Anais Leleux, of “psychological violence”announced his political withdrawal after the latter’s complaint for “harassment” And “abuse of weakness”. Taking “act” of the complaint of his ex-partner, which will, according to him, allow him to “prove [son] innocence”, the elected official affirms that he will no longer speak on behalf of his party and his parliamentary group, to allow them “to work calmly during the upcoming investigation” and ensure its defense.
The former national secretary of Europe Ecologie-les Verts preferred to withdraw from himself while the threat of exclusion loomed since the announcement of Anaïs Leleux’s complaint on Tuesday March 5. “There are no new facts”, evacuated management in the morning. But the matter was to be discussed in the afternoon during an executive office planned to deal with the cases of Damien Carême and Camille Hachez, two members of the party who joined the list of France Insoumise for the European elections. “If he hadn’t done it, the party would have done it, says an environmentalist. There is a complaint, it changes the situation. The party was under pressure.”
This Wednesday, green deputy Aurélien Taché left the loop of “political advice” of environmentalists by denouncing, among other things, the management of the Bayou affair. In a message addressed to national secretary Marine Tondelier, consulted by Libé, he wrote: “You are still often off at the right time… especially for someone with your capacity for work, who everyone knows and recognizes”. After expressing his disagreement with the treatment of the Palestinian question, he asserts: “Then come the accusations against Julien, whose name no one, not even you, mentions and we return to the cells, the closed doors, the meetings… This is not correct either for Anas who has the courage to speak out , nor for Julien who must be able to respond.
In September 2022, the then head of the party had already chosen to leave his post as well as the presidency of the environmental group in the National Assembly to “to be able to defend himself in complete freedom against accusations of which he knows nothing and the gossip which corrupts our democratic life”, his lawyer, Marie Dosé, declared to the press. A few months earlier, his ex-partner had written to the EE-LV sexist and sexual violence investigation unit, accusing Julien Bayou of “breaking women”. In this email sent on June 30 and also addressed to green executives but also to members of the MP’s family, she denounced “a manipulative, cowardly and devoid of empathy” and claimed to want to end his life to “protect others”, “keep Bayou away from places of power and militancy where he can predate”.
The unit then took action to investigate but the matter remained under the media radar until the feminist collective Nous tous called out EE-LV on Twitter on September 19: “Hello EE-LV, the VSS cell was seized in July after accusations of violence committed by Julien Bayou against his ex-partner. How can we ensure that activists are safe? No action seems to have been taken, why? The next day, on the set of C to youGreen MP Sandrine Rousseau claimed to have met Anaïs Leleux and mentioned “behavior likely to undermine the moral health of women”triggering a media storm.
Among the ecologists, “no one knows what to do”
Four months later, the EE-LV unit finally closed the investigation because it was unable to “to carry out the investigation”. The party leadership then explained that “the initial hearing [de son ex-compagne]starting point of the investigation, could not have taken place” and “no one else had entered the cell about Julien Bayou.” “As there was no investigation, we cannot say that he is innocent but no testimony has made it possible to say that he is guilty of anything”explained a person close to management.
The one who always denied the facts with which he is accused and then described himself as a “burn victim” remained discreet for a long time: no more meetings with the press, no more interventions in left-wing gatherings, simple presences in parliamentary committees… But, little by little, he has returned to the debate in recent months, investing in particular in discussions on the hypothesis of a joint left-wing candidacy for the 2027 presidential election. “Julien had to find something”explained a relative while Release recounted that the MP had organized dinners at his home with left-wing figures who were trying to find the way to achieve union.
The announcement of Anaïs Leleux’s filing of a complaint finally forced him to step back. She spoke openly for the first time in an interview with the site Days in which she also announces a complaint against “failure to provide assistance to a person in danger”. “I waited to speak publicly because I was torn between Julien Bayou and the cause of my life, feminism. I ended up being afraid of a man I thought I knew and in fact I didn’t. When you’re under the influence, and I still was until recently, it’s difficult to speak.”she says.
“No one knows what to do with these situations… deplores an environmentalist. If a complaint automatically results in exclusion, it’s the end of the rule of law, it’s nonsense, but at the moment, that’s how it is and we ourselves helped create that.”
Updated 12:45 p.m. with the reminder of the facts and the reactions within the Ecologists.