An investigation opened after an accusation of rape in the grounds of the Elysee

Published on : 11/12/2021 – 14:56

This is a case that could prove to be very embarrassing for the Élysée. A soldier from the particular staff of the presidency, accused by another of having raped her on 1^er July 2021, is under investigation, and was placed on July 12 under the intermediary status of assisted witness.

In his article revealing the affair, the newspaper Liberation affirms that the facts would have occurred in the premises of the particular staff of the Élysée on 1^er July, on the sidelines of a departure party of three collaborators, and well after the departure of the Head of State, Emmanuel Macron, who had given a speech in the early evening.

“A young soldier, who previously attended the departure party, said she was subjected to sexual violence by a man, also a soldier [et] non-commissioned officer. “” The two soldiers are assigned to the special staff, work together on a daily basis and know each other, “according to the daily.

The young woman would have deposited “in the hours which followed” a handrail at the police station of VIII^e district, adds Liberation.

Contacted, a judicial source confirmed the daily information according to which a Parisian examining magistrate had been seized on July 12 of a judicial investigation for “rape”.

This source told AFP that the investigations were “still ongoing” and the accused soldier “placed” on July 12 after his interrogation before the investigating judge, “under the status of witness. assisted “, a less incriminating status than that of indictment.

As with Liberation, the Elysee told AFP “never” to comment on “ongoing legal cases”.

The precedent of the Benalla affair

The presidency of Emmanuel Macron has already been marked by faulty acts accused of one of the collaborators of the Head of State, such as the project manager, Alexandre Benalla. The affair had triggered a political earthquake whose aftershocks had shaken the top of the state for many months, from press revelations to parliamentary committees.

And the Elysee had been accused of a supposed lack of diligence in sanctioning it.

Very quickly after this new affair, the Elysee told Liberation, then to AFP, Friday that “as soon as the facts were brought to the attention of the authorities, measures were immediately taken: listening, support and accompaniment of the victim, immediate assignment, far from the Elysee Palace, of the offending person “.

A source familiar with the matter stressed that “Patrick Strzoda, Emmanuel Macron’s chief of staff, wants to be, since the Benalla affair, uncompromising, intractable and dazzling as soon as there is inappropriate behavior by an employee of the ‘Elysium”.

While Liberation indicates that an “administrative investigation” was launched against the suspected soldier, the Ministry of the Armed Forces declined to comment immediately.

With AFP