The former LREM deputy, Laetitia Avia, was sentenced this Wednesday in Paris to six months suspended imprisonment and two years of ineligibility for the moral harassment of four parliamentary assistants, we learned from concordant sources.
The former deputy for Paris, 37, who became a lawyer again after her defeat in the legislative elections in 2022, was on the other hand released from the proceedings concerning three other former collaborators.
“A duty to set an example”
It is “not demonstrated that there was an organizational, managerial, structurally harassing practice on the part of Mrs. Avia”, considered the court. He therefore “examined the situation of each”.
The offense “was committed by Laetitia Avia with regard to several employees for several years when she was an elected representative of the Republic, on the occasion of the exercise of these functions and with regard to parliamentary collaborators, which accentuates the seriousness of his actions, ”wrote the court in its judgment consulted by AFP.
“Even if it was a young deputy, with no experience in human resources management, discovering the functioning of the National Assembly, which moreover was the target of unjustifiable personal attacks, of intolerable denigration and who, after the revelation of the facts, saw her political ambitions reduced to nothing, the court must also take into account the fact that she, like all persons exercising public functions, had a duty to set an example, what she was aware of, ”adds the court.
Laetitia Avia’s lawyer confirms appeal
Laetitia Avia was ordered to pay nearly 10,000 euros in damages and 6,500 euros in legal costs. His lawyer, Me Basile Ader, said he “obviously” appealed, saying he was “confident” about the outcome of this second trial.
“The fact that the court did not retain a system of harassment but that it sorted out the employees who complained will allow us to apprehend the case before the Court of Appeal in a transparent manner with regard to the accusation,” he said.
The counsel for several civil parties, Me Maud Sobel, on the contrary considered that “the clarity and seriousness of the facts, as well as the position of Ms. Avia at the hearing, foreshadowed the sentencing decision”.
Seven former employees testify
During the trial, the seven former employees, who did not all file a complaint, testified at length, describing the “verbal violence” and “aggressiveness” of their boss, sometimes via remarks and nicknames about their origins.
The politician had denied in block, saying that the accusations represented “the complete opposite” of her values, citing the constraints of political life such as her workload in the National Assembly and castigating “lies”. Mediapart had published in May 2020 the testimonies of five former parliamentary assistants.
The MP, an early LREM activist, then brought to Parliament a bill against online hate, largely censored the following month by the Constitutional Council.
After several complaints, an investigation was opened in July 2020 and, two years later, the elected official was summoned to appear in court.