- On March 6, 2019, eight women filed a complaint against X for "sexual harassment" and "psychological abuse". They accused a journalist of Le Monde of having sent, without their consent, photos of him naked via the Messenger application.
- In total, around twenty women received, despite themselves, these sexual images between 2011 and 2017.
- The investigation was closed without follow-up by the Paris prosecutor's office last November, learned 20 Minutes. The man in question was found to be "irresponsible" because of the side effects of a drug treatment he was taking at the time.
The investigation had been opened in less than 48 hours by the Paris prosecutor's office. On March 6, 2019, eight women - working in communications, the media and new technologies - filed a complaint against X for "sexual harassment" and "psychological violence" and implicated a journalist from Le Monde . All of them explained that they had received, without their consent, sexual photographs of this man between 2011 and 2017 via the Facebook Messenger application. Some had collaborated with him as part of their activity, others did not know him but shared the same professional network.
Entrusted to the brigade for the suppression of delinquency against the person (BRDP), the investigation was closed without follow-up on November 21 by prosecutors learned 20 Minutes this Tuesday from concordant sources. According to our information, the journalist targeted in the complaint filed in March was deemed "irresponsible" for medical reasons. An expert opinion carried out in July by a neurologist doctor revealed that a drug taken by this man between 2011 and 2018 would be the cause of major behavioral disorders and the alleged facts appearing in the complaint.
" Collateral damages "
For Fanny Bouton, one of the complainants and journalist at the origin of a call for testimonies which made it possible to gather around twenty women addressees of these photos, even if this decision is "difficult to swallow", this investigation will have " allowed to alert and put an end to nine years of silence and shame ”. Contacted by 20 Minutes, the lawyer for young women, Valentine Rebérioux, added: “There has never been a desire to deny this man's illness from my clients or to deny the side effects generated by his treatment. But this judicial procedure was necessary. Firstly because they did not know he was sick, secondly because they had no competence to know that there could be a link between a drug and such behavior and finally because the complaint revealed and contributed to putting an end to them ”.
Responsive, the management of Le Monde had contacted Fanny Bouton just hours after the publication of his call for testimony in February 2019. In the process, an internal investigation and a procedure for layoff as a precautionary measure had been implemented. An e-mail was also sent to the entire editorial staff to remind them of the measures put in place within the group to fight against harassment - in particular sexual harassment - and discrimination. "We do not regret our approach, says the journalist, even if we have the feeling that we are being considered as collateral damage. "
Without denying the very specific nature of this procedure, linked to the medical treatment of the man referred to in their accounts, the young women recipients of these photos point to the “legal vacuum” reflected according to them in this file. “There is still a hole in the court racket. Sending a sexual photo of a naked self to someone who does not want to and who did not ask for anything does not entail any type of sanction as long as it is not repeated, ”laments Fanny Bouton.
Society
"Le Monde" journalist suspected of "psychological violence" and "sexual harassment"
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