This is an article that will cause a stir at LCI owned by the TF1 group.
Arrived in the spotlight at the start of September, on La Chaîne Info from Monday to Thursday from 8 p.m. to 9:15 p.m., presenter Darius Rochebin was pinned by an investigation by the Swiss newspaper Le Temps.
Sexual harassment, inappropriate actions, false accounts on Facebook… if the facts are true, they are very serious.
According to Le Temps, the departure for France of Darius Rochebin, Swiss news star before his arrival on LCI, would have made it possible to break the law of silence which reigned on the Swiss Radio-television channel (RTS) where the presenter previously officiated.
Facts of harassment are mentioned, such as “hands slipped under the shirts of male colleagues, recurring salacious allusions or even proximity to young men”.
An employee reports, her, having crossed the presenter in a corridor: “Suddenly, he took my face in his hands and tried to kiss me.
I immediately pushed him away.
He stealthily left, without looking at me or apologizing.
Another evokes an episode where Darius Rochebin would have taken his hand to put it "firmly on his genitals".
The presenter denies "any criminal wrongdoing"
The young humorist Thomas Wiesel also host on the RTS, that we could see in "Quotidien" on TMC or hear in "The original tape" of Nagui on France Inter also tells in the investigation the disturbing behavior of the journalist with him.
“He would comment on my physique, offer to meet for a show or a drink, want my phone number rather than my email.
Several people had warned me.
I immediately put up barriers and he didn't insist.
".
Contacted by "Le Parisien", the artist does not wish to say more.
He relayed this morning on his social networks the article of "Time" adding: "There you are, now you understand why some, including me, did not laugh especially at the 3041 memes on Darius and his departure so tragic for everyone. country ”.
There you go, now you understand why some, including myself, did not laugh especially at the 3041 memes about Darius and his tragic departure for the whole country.
- Thomas Wiesel (@wieselT) October 31, 2020
Other testimonies mention the use of accounts under a false name on Facebook by the presenter "to get in touch with young men".
Questioned by the authors of the article, the management reacted on this point: “We have firmly and formally reminded him of our professional rules concerning presence on social networks.
"Le Temps, which claims to have proof of these false accounts, adds that Darius Rochebin would have recognized their" existence "from his superiors.
“They were managed by friends”.
Other RTS executives targeted
For now, LCI and its presenter have not officially reacted to this article.
The latter's lawyer is however quoted by Le Temps and;
by his voice, the presenter "firmly denies having engaged in criminally reprehensible acts" and specifies that "he has never been the subject of a criminal complaint, nor a fortiori of any criminal conviction".
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In its investigation, Le Temps also targets two other RTS executives with the testimony of several employees, who were keen to remain anonymous.
They claim in particular to have been victims of "sexual harassment, untimely sending of
vicious
letters
, suggestive SMS during and outside office hours".
The facts would have been reported to management but this would have remained ineffective.
