Georges Tron is accused by two former employees of his suburb of Paris of having imposed touching and digital penetrations on them between 2007 and 2010 under the guise of plantar reflexology sessions and with the complicity of his assistant for Culture at the time, Brigitte Gruel.

Former Secretary of State Georges Tron, prosecuted for rape and sexual assault of two collaborators, told AFP on Friday that he had tested negative for Covid-19, which paves the way for a resumption of his appeal trial at the Paris Assizes.

The mayor of Draveil (Essonne), 63, had been acquitted at first instance by the Seine-Saint-Denis assize court.

Georges Tron is accused by two former employees of his suburb of Paris of having imposed touching and digital penetrations on them between 2007 and 2010 under the guise of plantar reflexology sessions and with the complicity of his assistant for Culture at the time, Brigitte Gruel.

The latter was also acquitted in 2018.

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The appeal trial opened Tuesday in Paris but was immediately suspended, the local elected official having indicated at the bar having been in contact with a person positive for Covid-19.

The court had ordered Georges Tron to undergo a Covid test on Friday morning, a week after being exposed, to determine if he had contracted the new coronavirus and to make a decision accordingly for the continuation of the debates, in a context of health crisis.

About sixty witnesses expected

Made public just days after the outbreak of the DSK affair in May 2011, this affair had forced Georges Tron to resign from the Secretary of State for the Civil Service in the Fillon government.

She is coming back to justice at a time when questions of sexual violence stir up public opinion.

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The appeal hearing will resume Monday morning.

With a procession of around sixty witnesses expected, it is currently scheduled to last until February 18.