Former minister Damien Abad, recently indicted for attempted rape in 2010, dismissed the accusations of rape against him in front of the judges, arguing that he had physical limits imposed by his disability and denied any chemical submission. According to elements of his interrogation consulted this Saturday by AFP, on May 16 the former rising star of LR, who had become a short-lived war prisoner of the Macronie, assured the two Parisian investigating judges that his innocence was “total and full”.
“I have never drugged, nor raped, nor attempted to rape, nor assaulted a woman,” said the deputy for Ain (related to Renaissance) at the start of 4.5 hours of questions and answers on his profile and the stories against him by three women: Laëtitia, Chloé (two borrowed first names) and Margaux.
“This scene does not exist”
After testimonies in Mediapart, the complaint of the first triggered the legal proceedings. In the turmoil, Damien Abad left the government after a month, at the beginning of July 2022. According to Laëtitia, he wanted to force her to perform fellatio during an evening at his home, in 2010 in Paris . Surprised by his “considerable strength”, Laëtitia said she “struggled” and “hit” him, before escaping when a guest burst in, who recalled to the investigators having “opened a door and saw the woman come out.
Damien Abad contests this version, the compatibility with the configuration of the premises and its capacity to impose such a relationship. The judges challenge him: “Given your respective positions, there is no room for problems of interpretation (…). It happened, or it didn’t happen. » “This scene does not exist”, replies the accused.
Damien Abad insists on his illness
Margaux describes a sexual encounter that was first consensual in Paris at the beginning of 2011 and then marked by “disrespect, injunction and insistence” with forced anal penetration. For Damien Abad, “it’s false. I cannot have sexual intercourse (…) without the active participation of the person.”
The short-lived Minister of Solidarity, Autonomy and Disabled People insists on his illness, arthrogryposis, his disability established at “80% and above” and the “multitude of gestures that (he) cannot to do”, when it comes to dressing, washing, eating… but also sexual relations. His current partner corroborates his need for help in this matter, but ex-partners temper this.
A specialist in his illness, contacted by the former minister in March, assured that his disability made it “unlikely that (Damien Abad) could force a woman of normal build and strength to have sexual intercourse without her consent”. But the plaintiffs also put forward the hypothesis of recourse to chemical submission.
“Drugged” by Damien Abad
Laëtitia says she saw “something” at the bottom of a glass “offered” by Damien Abad. She spat it out. Chloé recounts having drunk champagne in a Parisian bar with him in 2010, before a “blackout” until the next morning when she woke up, disoriented, by his side. In mid-May, Damien Abad recounted an evening of chaste seduction that ended by mutual agreement at the hotel.
Margaux will mention the “possibility”, as one of her friends believes, that she was “drugged” by Damien Abad. “I have never taken drugs or put anything in a drink,” he replies. The deputy will contest the accusations of these women who, although “a priori not knowing each other” as the judges point out, “can rewrite or reinterpret”.
To date indicted only for the facts concerning Laëtitia and placed under the more favorable status of assisted witness for the two others, Damien Abad assured on May 16 that he believed “that his total innocence will be confirmed” on these accusations “materially and scientifically impossible” according to his lawyers, Jacqueline Laffont and Robin Binsard.
“Margaux’s words are reiterated, precise and sincere”
Me Arié Alimi, Chloé’s lawyer, observes “the same modus operandi denounced by several women who do not know each other: chemical submission has become a recurring method of rape in politics”. “For seven years, Margaux’s words have been reiterated, precise and sincere,” insisted her lawyer, Me Carine Durrieu-Diebolt, on Saturday.
“The operating mode that she describes is common to other victims (without them knowing each other): building trust, a context of asymmetry (political hierarchy), champagne (alcohol or drugs) to make them vulnerable, surprising physical strength, exploitation of his disability to manipulate them,” added the lawyer, who indicated that she had “requested the seizure of Damien Abad’s medical file and a medical expertise.