Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne, on a campaign trip to Calvados on Wednesday, invited women victims of sexual violence to file a complaint, assuring that she could not comment "
about an anonymous testimony
" accusing Damien Abad of an attempt of rape.
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The Minister of Solidarity, Damien Abad, already implicated for sexual violence, is targeted by new accusations from a woman who says she suffered an attempted rape in 2010, according to her account published Tuesday by Mediapart.
“
It is essential that on these subjects the voice of women (…) be heard.
You understand that I cannot comment on the basis of anonymous testimonies
, ”she told the press in the Villers-Bocage market, in the 6th district of Calvados, where she is campaigning for the legislative elections.
“
As Prime Minister, I also say it as a woman, we must allow justice to establish the facts.
Do not hesitate to file a complaint. (...) I am not a judge and investigations are not carried out with anonymous testimonies.
Everything is done to (…) welcome women as well as possible so that they can file a complaint and that justice can establish the facts
”, she added.
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In the testimony collected by Mediapart, "
Laëtitia
" (assumed name), an "
elected centrist
", accuses Damien Abad of having tried to rape her during a party organized at his home in Paris in the first half of 2010. Without explicitly mentioning a complaint, his lawyer, Me Raphaëlle Bialkiewicz, told Mediapart that she was proceeding "
to the collection and cross-checking of elements, with a view to providing all the necessary follow-up
".
These accusations come after those published by the online media on May 20, the day after the appointment of Damien Abad as Minister of Solidarity, Autonomy and Disabled People: two women, quoted by Mediapart, accused the new minister of raped in 2010 and 2011.
Damien Abad, who is seeking a new mandate as deputy on Sunday in Ain, denounced Tuesday to AFP the "
carefully chosen schedule of these publications"
and the "
partiality
" of the Mediapart investigation, which according to him has a
political
motivation
.
“
As for the allegations reported, they revolt me and I categorically refute them
,” added Damien Abad in a message sent to AFP.