The mayor and vice-president of the urban community of Limoges Emile Roger Lombertie (LR) as well as two of his deputies are the subject of a preliminary investigation, after the filing of a complaint for harassment, we learned on Friday from the parquet.
The opening of this investigation follows the complaint for
“moral harassment”
filed on February 13 by a former director of the metropolis and an executive still in office, who also report alleged acts of sexual assault and harassment on others people.
In their complaint, the two agents denounce
"institutionalized harassment"
without
"hierarchical intervention despite several alerts"
,
"organized ostracism"
,
"intimidation maneuvers"
as well as the
"creation of an intimidating situation with lewd and tendentious
.
The report of a former colleague of the mayor, claiming to have been the victim of sexual assault, was also attached to the file by the complainants.
According to the lawyer for the two agents, Me Christelle Mazza, this complaint constitutes
“a report under article 40 of the criminal procedure requiring any public official who witnesses a crime or misdemeanor to report it to the public prosecutor”
.
The Tulle public prosecutor's office, where the case was filed, announced on Friday that a preliminary investigation had been opened, without specifying the leaders.
The prosecutor himself accused
“The mayor and his deputies take note of this information on which they do not wish to make any comment
,” responded the town hall’s communications service.
Already in 2015, the elected women of the municipal opposition had publicly expressed their
“fed up” with the
“systematically sexualized and sexist”
comments
made by Roger Lombertie and certain members of his team.
In her complaint, Me Christelle Mazza had requested a change of scenery from the case
"in the interest of good administration of justice"
, the Limoges public prosecutor Baptiste Porcher himself being accused of sexist remarks towards female collaborators.
The Ministry of Justice requested his transfer in early February.