At the correctional court in Paris,
Agathe is the first to take the stand, with a determined step. This young woman with long brown hair and fine features does not however intend to constitute a civil party. “All of that,” she explains, is behind her. “In any case, I am convinced of it. “This former parliamentary collaborator just wants to tell her story, “leave a trace” of what she experienced between 2017 and 2018 – she was then 23 years old – when she worked with the former LREM deputy from Paris, Laetitia Avia . A year marked, according to his account, by daily “humiliations” and a “lowering of [ses] professional qualities, sometimes in public”.
She cites, for example, the day when the former spokesperson for the party, an early activist, dropped in front of deputies “I present to you my slaves” when speaking of her and a colleague. Or that time she asked him to get some keys from her basket of dirty laundry. “It’s one of the only things I refused,” she says, her throat tight. Sitting on a jump seat just behind her, Laetitia Avia, now retired from political life, cannot help but regularly roll her eyes or pout to show her disapproval. Judged for “moral harassment” on seven former employees, she let it be known from the first minutes of the hearing that she “firmly contested all the allegations” brought against her.
“It’s not humor”
The stories that followed on Tuesday until late in the evening and this Wednesday are however marked by many similarities. All of them describe the member’s outbursts of anger and her harsh or inappropriate remarks at the bar. Like Aurélie who worked for almost a year and a half with her. She claims to have been mocked for her white hair – Laetitia Avia even made her an appointment with the hairdresser – or to have been given the nickname “table trash” by the deputy. “It’s not humor, ever, especially when it’s repeated countless times in team meals,” she insists at the helm.
Patrick, a graduate of a business school, specializing in diplomacy, believes that he has gradually become “the collaborator-trash”, the one to whom we gave “the tasks that were not assigned to anyone”. : go to the pharmacy, make sure there is zero coke in the fridge. Like many, he recounts the “policing on Telegram”. “There was a flood of messages, it was very complicated to work and every night, we went to bed with the fear of missing a message which could fall around 11 p.m., midnight 30. The young man of Asian origin assures also having been nicknamed the “Chinese”. In an audio recording made without the knowledge of the MP and broadcast during the hearing, we hear Laetitia Avia deplore that “despite his origins, Patrick is not really good on computer subjects. »
Strong bonds of complicity
The president nevertheless reminds him that he has designated himself as “the fake Chinese” or “the counterfeit”. He also admits having called “once or twice” Laetitia Avia “the blackos”. This is the difficulty of this file, all the complainants or almost claim to have had moments of strong complicity with Laetitia Avia, far from the classic links that we generally maintain at work. On several occasions, the assessor asks: could certain remarks experienced as outrageous have been misunderstood humor? And aren’t the extended hours described by all, the multiple requests part of the work of a parliamentary collaborator?
On this last point, Laetitia Avia recognizes it without difficulty: yes, she sent messages late at night. “It’s political life that wants that, I worked all the time,” she insists. On the rest of the testimonies, on the other hand, the ex-deputy is inflexible, discrediting for nearly 2h30 the stories of his accusers. The nickname “table trash” or the reference to his “slaves”? ” I never said that. “The comments on white hair? Laetitia Avia recognizes only a few remarks on the “scruffy” look of her former collaborator. What about the group “Biiitch Talking” created by him to welcome Patrick’s departure? “A kiddie,” she admits. But immediately the former politician cannot help adding that his former collaborators “spent their days” criticizing their colleague.
“I laugh a lot, I sing in the office”
Without ever giving credit to the pain described by her accusers, she depicts, on the contrary, a serene working atmosphere. “I laugh a lot, I sing in the office, I don’t impose a climate of terror. If she calls herself “rigorous” willingly acknowledging that she expects the same from her team, she affirms that she never aims for “people”, “only work”.
What does she think, a posteriori, of all these messages that her team sent to each other testifying to their fear that she would get angry, questions the president. “Sometimes they get things in their heads, there is a group effect,” she replies. On their bench, the latter cannot help but heave sighs at each denial of their former leader. The trial, which has been delayed, is due to resume on June 1.