PARIS
- The specter of violence and sexual assault returns to the fore in France's political circles after investigative website Mediapart published testimonies indicting Solidarity Minister Damien Abad on charges of raping or attempting to rape 3 women.
This controversy coincides with the passage of a few weeks of President Emmanuel Macron's second term of 5 years, and after his appointment of Prime Minister Elizabeth Born on May 20 as the first woman to obtain this position after 30 years.
At a time when the concerned party is still strongly denying the charges against him and denouncing their "political" motives, the executive authority finds itself facing a thorny issue plaguing it and in an embarrassing impasse in the context of the legislative elections currently taking place in the country.
Testimonies against the Minister
The day after Abad was appointed Minister of Solidarity, Self-Government and the Disabled, Mediapart published the testimonies of two women who accused the new minister of raping them in 2010 and 2011.
The first victim, a Young Democrats activist named Margot, says she had a "disrespectful" sexual relationship in January 2011 that she constantly tried to stop.
Margot's complaints filed in 2012 and 2017 were dismissed for "not having a sufficiently serious violation", according to the Paris Public Prosecutor's Office.
Minister Abad considered that the accusations against him of rape and sexual violence are politically motivated (Reuters)
The second woman testified that the minister-designate was suspected of trying to "numb" her in the fall of 2010 when she met him at a bar.
She claims to Mediapart that she woke up the next morning in a hotel room near the pub "in shock and deep disgust".
In light of the uproar that accompanied the spread of this news in the media, the investigative website published the testimony of a third woman on Tuesday accusing Abad, newly elected as a member of the European Parliament at the time, of trying to rape her during a party at his home in the Latin Quarter of the capital during the first half of 2010. The testimonies of 8 people supported this woman's story.
embarrassing government
As if history were repeating itself, the president found himself in the position of championing a women's rights issue just a month after his re-election, especially after he declared in his presidential campaign his commitment to making gender equality the "big issue of his new term."
Political analyst Patrick Forestier told Al Jazeera Net that the paradox now lies in the ability of the Solidarity Minister accused of rape to carry out his political duties, as is the case with the rest of the other ministers nominated for the legislative elections.
The Elysee had previously asserted that members of the government who decided to submit to the vote would not be able to retain their positions unless they were elected in their constituencies.
This was confirmed by Minister Abad himself, on Tuesday, considering that the polls will be the decisive judge that will show his ability to maintain the confidence of the French.
It is worth noting that Abad bet his campaign on his local presence in the fifth district of Al-Ain, a strategy that apparently paid off, as he won first place with 33% of the votes in the first round of these elections, Sunday 12 June.
In the face of the huge media impetus that accompanies this case, Prime Minister Elizabeth Bourne commented, during her election campaign in Calvados on Wednesday, that "I am not a judge, and investigations are not conducted with anonymous testimonies," calling on women who accuse Abad of sexual violence to take the necessary legal measures.
On another occasion, Bourne insisted that "only the courts have the duty or authority to make decisions", in other words not the media or public opinion.
Demands for the minister's resignation
After Mediapart revealed the victims' testimonies, many human rights organizations, women's defense associations and opposition parties rushed to demand the French government to intervene and pressure the minister to resign.
Socialist Party Secretary Olivier Faure was the first to call for Abad's resignation, saying, "Things are clear and require explanation. We cannot relive what we lived in the Hulu case," referring to the case of rape and sexual assault against former Minister for Environmental Transformation Nicolas Hulot.
Feminist activist Caroline de Haas, in an interview with Al Jazeera Net, indicated that expelling Abad from the government has become a necessity.
"This decision can be taken clearly and directly when the minister is involved in similar crimes," she said.
Previous demonstration in Paris against inequality, harassment and sexual violence (Reuters)
For its part, the French Institute for Research on Sexual Violence in Politics, made up of elected left-wing politicians who helped expose the issue, called for the minister's resignation and the organization of demonstrations against the "government of shame" just three days after the formation of the new government was announced.
During Macron's tour in Gilak on Thursday, June 9, a young woman blew up in front of the President of the Republic, "Why do you put at the head of the state men accused of rape and violence against women?"
And he replied, "I will continue to accompany and protect freedom of expression, at the same time you must have the presumption of innocence to work in society," which made some describe him as a "liar" and "abhorrent" before the head of state continued to shake hands with the audience with rigid expressions.
Similar stories
Political analyst Patrick Forestier tells Al Jazeera Net that the legislative record on gender equality in Macron's government remains far from achieving all expectations that have been raised since his election as President of the Republic in 2017.
And this is not the first time that the name of a minister has been linked to sexual assaults. Eric Dupont-Moretti was appointed Minister of Justice and Gerald Darmanan, Minister of Public Accounts in Edward Philip’s government, won the interior portfolio in Jean Kestiks’ government in 2020, despite the ongoing investigation against them on charges of rape.
The French writer adds that the issue of keeping ministers in office, despite accusations of rape that affect them during their political work, will have very negative repercussions on public opinion and may lead to a loss of confidence in politicians.
He pointed out that Macron had never abandoned one of his ministers just on suspicion of rape, especially since no investigation had been opened so far about Abad because there were no elements that would allow the victims to be identified.