Accused of
"
psychological violence
"
against his ex-partner, the former leader of Europe Écologie-Les Verts (EELV) Julien Bayou announced in a press release to AFP that he was withdrawing from his party and his group at the 'National Assembly.
Taking
“
note
”
of his ex-partner's complaint, which will, according to him, allow him to
“
prove (his) innocence
”
, the MP
“
decides to withdraw
”
from his group and his party, to ensure his defense and allow them
“
to work calmly during the upcoming investigation
”
.
“
I will no longer speak on their behalf during the investigation ,
”
he added.
Anaïs Leleux, the ex-wife of Julien Bayou, revealed this Tuesday to the online media
Les Jours
that she had filed a complaint against the Paris MP for
“
moral harassment
”
and
“
abuse of weakness
”
.
To this complaint, filed on March 4 and registered the next day with the public prosecutor's office, was added a second directly targeting the environmentalist party for
"
failure to assist a person in danger
"
.
“
These complaints are currently being analyzed
,”
the prosecutor’s office told Le Figaro.
“Breaking the moral health of women”
The “Bayou affair” began in July 2022, when the internal unit dedicated to gender-based and sexual violence at EELV was contacted following an email sent by Anaïs Leleux.
She then accuses Julien Bayou of
“
breaking women
”
.
On September 19, 2022, the affair was publicly revealed by the environmentalist MP Sandrine Rousseau on the set of the show “C à vous”
,
on France 5. The feminist activist explains having received Julien Bayou's ex-partner at length before to point out
“
behavior likely to undermine the moral health of women
”
.
Through his lawyer, the accused for his part castigated
“
an instrumentalization of the fight
”
against violence against women
“
for political purposes
”
, a few months before the EELV Congress.
Without, however, renouncing to resign from the national secretariat of the party.
The internal investigation finally closed in February 2023, without results.
“
The initial hearing (of the complainant), starting point of the investigation, could not take place
”
and
“
no one else entered the cell about Julien Bayou
”
, explained EELV in a press release.
A week later, the party recorded the end of the MP's withdrawal.
Former member of the movement, Anaïs Leleux now judges that the protocol of the investigation unit
“
put her in danger
”
.
In question, members
“
not solidly trained
”
, an investigation not
“
outsourced
”
, and
“
access to the name of the complainants
”
.
The Bayou affair tears EELV apart
In the wake of Anaïs Leleux's complaint, the environmentalist deputy Aurélien Taché decided to leave the environmentalists' political council, according to information from Le
Parisien
.
Against a backdrop of disagreement with the strategy of Marine Tondelier, the national secretary of the Ecologists, the elected official from Val-d'Oise denounced his lack of involvement in the Palestinian cause but also the pusillanimity of the management around the "affair Bayou.”
“
The accusations against Julien arrive, whose name no one, not even you, mentions and we return to the cells, the closed doors, the meetings…
”
, regretted Aurélien Taché in a message addressed to the internal loop of the political council.
And to continue:
“
This is not correct neither for Anaïs who has the courage to express herself nor for Julien who must be able to respond.
»