The Prosecutor’s Office investigates the alleged crimes attributed to Chrysoula Zacharopoulou, which would have happened years ago in his office, although the victims have filed the lawsuits after his recent appointment in the Macron Executive
New controversy in the Government of French Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne. Chrysoula Zacharopoulou, French Secretary of State for Development, has been accused by two women of rape for events that allegedly occurred years ago in her gynecology clinic. A third woman accuses him of “gynecological violence” that would have occurred during a medical examination.
Zacharopoulou, who has learned of the complaints made against her by the press, considers the allegations “unacceptable”. “The serious accusations against me, during medical clinical examinations in order to diagnose and care for my patients’ illness, are unacceptable and outrageous,” the politician said in a statement sent by her lawyer to the French press.
The Secretary of State feels “shocked and deeply hurt” by these serious accusations. “I have never imposed the slightest examination on any of my patients,” says Zacharopoulou, who is a gynecologist specializing in endometriosis, a chronic inflammatory gynecological disease that involves the presence of endometrial tissue outside the uterus.
two more ministers
The Paris Prosecutor’s Office opened an investigation on May 27 after two people filed separate complaints of rape against the Secretary of State, as revealed by the magazine ‘Marianne’. The investigation has been entrusted to the Brigade for the Repression of Crime against Persons (BRPD, for its acronym in French). The first lawsuit against Zacharopoulou, a Frenchwoman of Greek origin, was filed on May 25. The second was filed on June 16 and refers to an alleged rape that occurred in 2016 “in a medical setting.” The third complaint for “gynecological violence” was filed this past Thursday for events that allegedly occurred in 2018 during a consultation for endometriosis.
The lawsuits came days after Zacharopoulou was appointed Secretary of State by President Emmanuel Macron on May 20. Before her appointment, Dr. Ella had been an MEP for La República en Marcha, the president’s party, since July 2019. She left the post a month ago to enter the government of Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne. She now leads the portfolio of Development, Francophonie and International Agreements and reports directly to the Foreign Minister, Catherine Colonna.
During her career as a gynecologist, Zacharopoulou, 46, has specialized in endometriosis, a disease that affects 10 to 15% of women of childbearing age and causes a lot of pain during menstruation or ovulation. The former MEP she delivered to President Macron this year a report on how to improve the diagnosis of endometriosis and recognize it.
In addition to the Secretary of State, two other members of the current French government have been accused of rape: the Minister of the Interior, Gérarld Darmanin, and the Minister of Solidarity, Damien Abad. Darmanin was charged in 2017 with rape, sexual harassment and breach of trust. The events would have occurred in 2009 at the beginning of his career, when Darmanin worked in the legal affairs service of the Union for a Popular Movement (UMP), Nicolas Sarkozy’s party. The complaint was initially dismissed and later reopened. The Prosecutor’s Office requested the filing of the case in early 2022.
Damien Abad, appointed Minister of Solidarity a month ago, has also been denounced for alleged rape by two women. The minister, who is physically handicapped, denies this. Abad assures that all the sexual relations that he has had in his life have been consensual. Abad’s case also came to light, as did Zacharopoulou’s, after his appointment as minister.
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