Less than forty-eight hours later, the entry into government of the new Minister of Solidarity Damien Abad is already tainted. In a survey published on Saturday May 21, Mediapart reveals the existence of a rape complaint filed in 2017 targeting the former president of the group Les Républicains (LR) and a report for similar facts sent a few days before his entry into government to LREM and his former party by the Observatory of sexist and sexual violence in Politics.
Requested by Mediapart, Damien Abad formally disputes the facts which are reproached to him and which go back to 2010 and 2011. elsewhere that the complaint filed in 2017 had been dismissed by the prosecution “on the grounds that the offense does not appear to be sufficiently constituted or characterized, the investigation having not made it possible to gather sufficient evidence”.
Facts committed in 2010 and 2011
The two women who accuse the former spokesperson for François Fillon and who confided in Mediapart do not know each other. The first, aged 41, reports a dinner with the chosen one in October 2010 after which she woke up in a hotel room, in her underwear, in the company of Damien Abad. The young woman explains that she had no memory of the course of this evening after drinking a single glass of champagne.
These facts, reported by the Observatory of gender-based and sexual violence in politics created last February, were also brought to the attention of the public prosecutor. Christophe Castaner, president of the LREM group in the National Assembly, told Mediapart that he too had sent these elements to the prosecutor after being requested by the site and “advises the victim to file a complaint immediately”. Contacted by 20 minutes, the Paris prosecutor’s office confirms that it received this report from the Observatory on May 20, which “is being analyzed”.
A second young woman, a 35-year-old centrist activist, explains that she had a sexual relationship with the former MEP in January 2011 after months of insistent exchanges. She indicates that she has undergone non-consensual anal penetration despite her “affirmed” and repeated refusal. His complaint, filed in 2017, justified the opening of an investigation by the Paris prosecutor’s office. “After a confrontation in front of the police, the procedure was dismissed, in December 2017, on the grounds of an insufficiently characterized offense”, writes Mediapart.
“I contest with the greatest force”
In a press release issued this Sunday and consulted by 20 minutesthe new Minister of Solidarity “contests with the greatest force these accusations of sexual violence” and ensures that “these accusations relate to acts or gestures which are quite simply impossible for me because of my disability”.
Suffering from a congenital disease, the former MEP explains that he remained discreet about the limits he imposes on him in his “movements” and “daily gestures”. “I am forced today to specify that, in my situation, the sexual act can only take place with the assistance and the benevolence of my partner (…) without the consent and the full and complete participation of the other , nothing is possible”, he defends himself.
“I was not aware” assures Elisabeth Borne
Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne said on Sunday that she discovered on Saturday, reading an article by Mediapart, the alleged rape charges dating from 2010 and 2011 targeting Damien Abad, the Minister of Solidarity. “I discovered the Mediapart article yesterday, I have no more information than the fact that the case was closed without further action. I can assure you that if there are new elements, if justice is again seized, we will draw all the consequences of this decision, “said the head of government to the media on the sidelines of a trip to Thury-Harcourt. (Calvados) for the June legislative campaign.
Ms. Borne said there could be “no impunity” for sexual violence. “Obviously I didn’t know. I am going to be very clear: on all these subjects of harassment, sexual assault, there can be no impunity and we must continue to act so that women who may be victims of aggression, harassment, can free their speech. , they are welcomed to file a complaint,” she said.