French govt rallies around rape-accused budget minister
Paris, (MILLAT ONLINE):Members of the French government on Sunday rallied around Budget Minister Gerald Darmanin, a rising star in President Emmanuel Macron’s team who has been accused of rape in a case dating back nearly a decade.
On Saturday, the Paris prosecutor’s office confirmed that it had reopened an investigation into allegations Darmanin, 35, pressured a woman into sex in return for promising to help clear her name in a legal dispute.
The case comes in the midst of a global outpouring of accounts of sexual harassment and rape unleashed by the Harvey Weinstein affair.
Sophie Spatz, a 46-year-old former call girl, made a first complaint against Darmanin in mid-2017 but the investigation was closed soon after when she failed to attend questioning by the police.
In mid-January she renewed her complaint, triggering a new preliminary probe.
Darmanin’s lawyers have accused her of a “crude attempt to harm” the minister’s reputation and said he was suing her for slander.
On Sunday, Justice Minister Nicole Belloubet rejected suggestions that he should resign, noting that he had not been charged with any crime.
Agriculture Minister Stephane Travert also took up Darmanin’s defence, saying the principle of innocent until proven guilty should apply to his cabinet colleague, “like any other citizen”.