Damien Abad was taken into custody on Wednesday according to information from LCI that we were able to confirm. He came out free pending a possible indictment, his entourage told us. The former Minister of Solidarity and current deputy of Ain is targeted by an investigation for attempted rape, opened in 2022 after the filing of a complaint.
The parliamentary immunity of Damien Abad was lifted on 24 May after a request from the judiciary made as part of the preliminary investigation underway in Paris. The politician had previously said in a statement "wish to be heard by the justice like any other citizen and this, under any regime whatsoever". This immunity protects parliamentarians from any coercive measure (police custody or judicial control) except for a crime, flagrante delicto or final conviction, but does not prevent indictments.
"From the opening of the preliminary investigation, I have always said that I was at the disposal of justice in order to be able to answer the questions of the investigators and thus confirm my innocence in the face of the vile slanders of which I am the target," had assured the deputy of Ain related to the Renaissance group.
Complaints from 2010 and 2011
This accusation occurred the day after his appointment to the government in May 2022, Mediapart relayed accusations of rape and attempted rape against him, dating from 2010 and 2011. The complaints were closed in 2012 and 2017. At the end of June 2022, the Paris prosecutor's office had opened a preliminary investigation for "attempted rape" after the filing of a new complaint.
In their accounts, the alleged victims revealed similar facts. Several women accuse the deputy of Ain of having drugged them or of having tried to do so. One of them said he then tried to force her to perform oral sex, another reported waking up in a hotel room with Damien Abad. The former MP has, for his part, filed a complaint for slanderous denunciation.
