France’s new solidarity minister denies raping women

A NEWLY appointed minister of Emmanuel Macron’s government has denied raping two women, insisting that his disability makes him incapable of sexually assaulting someone.

Damien Abad, the newly appointed minister for solidarity and the disabled, is accused of raping a woman in 2010 and another in 2011. He said one of the women filed a complaint to the police against him in 2017 which was closed without further action.

“I contest with the greatest force these accusations of sexual violence,” he said in a statement. “The sexual relations that I have had throughout my life have always been by mutual consent.”

Mr Abad said his disability, a disorder called arthrogryposis that affects all four of his limbs, made it physically impossible for him to undress or carry someone. The accusers do not know each other according to Mediapart which broke the story.

One woman said she went for dinner with Mr Abad in October 2010. She said she drank a glass of champagne and woke up in a hotel room in her underwear with Mr Abad. She said she does not recall how she got there.

Mr Abad’s other accuser told Mediapart she spent an evening with him in January 2011. She said she consented to a sexual relationship but then asked him to stop which she said he failed to do. She spoke informally to police in 2012 and complained of rape in 2017.

Asked to comment on the accusations against Mr Abad, Elisabeth Borne, the prime minister, said she was not aware of them when he joined the government. Ms Borne said her government would bear the consequences of appointing Mr Abad, “if there are new elements and a new case is opened”.