"Inappropriate gestures", LFI in support ... Update on the Eric Coquerel affair

• Sophie Tissier publicly denounced on Sunday an "offensive, harassing" behavior towards her by the rebellious deputy Eric Coquerel, elected this week chairman of the Assembly's Finance Committee.

  The left-wing activist seized the authorities of LFI, after "inappropriate gestures" during an evening which dates back to 2014.

• For his part, the LFI deputy denounced in a column in the

  Journal du Dimanche

  “unfounded rumors” concerning his behavior towards women.

• The committee against sexual violence of La France insoumise defended Eric Coquerel, ensuring that he had never received a report about him.

  20 Minutes

  takes stock of the controversy.

“The movement now plans to file a complaint against all the people who spread slander (…) on social networks.

It is in these terms that the deputy LFI Eric Coquerel, on Sunday dismissed the suspicions of inappropriate behavior with women targeting him.

Since Thursday, the newly elected chairman of the finance committee has denied it as a whole, while on Sunday Sophie Tissier announced that she had filed a "pre-complaint" and considered a complaint.

The left-wing activist denounces “offensive, harassing” behavior, “inappropriate gestures, wandering hands”.

returns to the “Coquerel affair”, while the deputy EELV (Nupes) Sandrine Rousseau assured BFMTV that she had personally investigated: “We do not know at all the extent, nor on what this rumor is based, it is not not for lack of looking, I really tried (…) to find, because I too was told this rumour.

»

Who is Eric Coquerel?

Eric Coquerel, born on December 30, 1958 in Courbevoie, is an LFI deputy for Seine-Saint-Denis.

Elected last Thursday to the key post of chairman of the finance committee of the National Assembly, he is presented as a defender of working-class neighborhoods, and one of the promoters with Jean-Luc Mélenchon of the fight against Islamophobia.

Even if he assures with a smile that he had "16/20 in the baccalaureate on the turn of the rigor of Mauroy", Eric Coquerel could not claim such a convincing pedigree on the economy as the former head of deputies PS Valérie Rabault.

Who is the deputy LFI Coquerel at the head of the finance committee?

https://t.co/iFXjdlYStp

— 20 Minutes (@20Minutes) June 30, 2022

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However, the one who was the neighbor of Eric Coquerel in committee during the previous legislature testifies: “He was very present, very diligent, this is not the case for everyone.

He's someone who worked on his files.

Through his availability to journalists, he has established himself over the past ten years as one of the most media-focused Mélenchonists.

But it is also omnipresent in demonstrations, pickets, student struggles or in neighborhoods.

What is he accused of?

This Sunday, left-wing activist Sophie Tissier publicly denounced “offensive, harassing” behavior towards her on the part of deputy Eric Coquerel.

This former figure of "yellow vests" announced that he had filed a "pre-complaint" and considered filing a complaint.

Guest of BFMTV the same evening, Sophie Tissier described "inappropriate gestures, wandering hands", during an evening organized by the party in 2014, evoking "a salacious, sticky look", and during the dance evening "a clumsy flirting”, behavior “outrageous, offensive, harassing”, on the part of the deputy.

I know because I suffered.

I attest.

#Coquerel stalker with sticky wandering hands and inappropriate assaults in 2014 during the PG summer universities.

I felt a deep unease I didn't know where it would stop.

I had clearly expressed my refusal to him.

He didn't care.

https://t.co/FFsxRZpCNB

— Sophie Tissier Official (@sophietissier23) July 2, 2022

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According to the activist, Eric Coquerel also sent her text messages offering to take her to her hotel.

“It was not a physical attack, in the sense that there was no physical violence, she judged, but the harassment was still traumatic”.

Sophie Tissier also said that she had spoken about it openly in the party, in particular to LFI MEP Leila Chaibi and press officer Juliette Prados.

What is the origin of these accusations?

Invited Thursday evening on RTL, Rokhaya Diallo spoke, without further details, of "sources within LFI" questioning the behavior of Eric Coquerel.

While reacting to the appointment of the deputy to head the finance committee, the author and activist, who assured that she was "aware that these are accusations", expressed her "astonishment" and mentioned the “quite sensitive” question of testimonies concerning the “personality” of the deputy: “I have several sources within LFI, I have heard several times from women who have spoken to me about the behavior he would have with women.

»

🔴 Eric Coquerel elected president of the #CommissionDesFinances 💬 @RokhayaDiallo on #RTL: " I have several sources within LFI. I heard about the behaviors he would have with women. So I am surprised by this choice. "

👈 pic.twitter.com/ROK2QArITd

– RTL France (@RTLFrance) June 30, 2022

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In December 2018, the magazine Causette had already published in an article entitled "La France insoumise prefers them submitted?

".

In this long-term investigation, looking into the prevailing sexism at LFI, the journalist, citing two anonymous testimonies (including that of Sophie Tissier), had assured that a "responsible, now an LFI deputy" was accused of "slippages known and current" by several young activists of the time.

What do LFI and Eric Coquerel say?

Questioned by BFMTV, Eric Coquerel disputed any inappropriate behavior towards women, evoked a "flirt" and began a counter-offensive.

"I'll look at the file, I'll see.

I do not rule out filing a complaint for defamation (…) Even a just cause like #MeToo can be exploited, ”explained the deputy, considering about his accuser that they were going to “do pschitt”.

Eric Coquerel also defended his innocence in a column published in the

, claiming to have "never exercised physical or psychological violence or coercion to obtain a report, which characterizes the gateway to criminal behavior in the field of gender-based and sexual violence”.

Activists committed for years against LFI divert the meaning of the fight against gender-based violence to smear Éric Coquerel after his victory over the far right.

This form of manipulative revenge seriously harms the struggle of feminists.https://t.co/dMOvVHWe6B

— Jean-Luc Melenchon (@JLMelenchon) July 3, 2022

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For his part and on his blog, the leader of LFI Jean-Luc Mélenchon supported the deputy, denouncing an “infamous operation of slander”, and saying his “disgust” in the face of “this vile baseness”.

He felt that the accusations were "timely relayed without restraint, investigation or verification of any kind" and had "made it possible to 'get people talking about something else'", attacking in particular a journalist from BFM TV.

He considered it "urgent to rid" the fight against gender-based and sexual violence "of people who have made it a means of instrumentalizing their political resentment against LFI".

What @sophietissier23 describes is exactly what discourages many women from becoming activists.

Not feeling recognized for your skills, being reduced to a body.

Our political organizations are sexist.

Our responsibility is collective for this to change.

— Sandrine Rousseau (@sandrousseau) July 3, 2022

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What follow-up should be given to these accusations?

Sophie Tissier made a report to the LFI sexual violence monitoring committee, responsible for receiving alerts concerning members of the movement, to possibly investigate.

“I have just contacted the sexual gender-based violence committee (CVSS) of the FI, in order to endorse my testimony attesting to the unacceptable behavior of Eric Coquerel.

It is a form of aggression that must be denounced because it is part of the continuum of violence against women,” the activist tweeted.

Our file on Eric Coquerel

It should be noted that the committee had assured, Thursday, to have never received a report about Eric Coquerel.

“Several editorial offices have carried out journalistic investigations, recalled Sunday the close friend of Jean-Luc Mélenchon.

Nothing ever came out for lack of having found a testimony that could be related to criminal behavior,

criminal.

For his part, Danièle Obono confirmed that the movement monitoring committee was "seized" and that he was going to "see what characteristics are in this report".

And the deputy LFI to specify to BFMTV: “It is important that we know exactly what it is about.

»

Policy

Eric Coquerel faced with "rumors about his behavior with women", LFI to the rescue

Policy

Sexual violence: Do parties seriously investigate before the nomination of candidates or the appointment of ministers?

• Company

• Eric Coquerel

• La France Insoumise (LFI)

• Violence against women

• Taha Bouhafs