The state has been condemned for the actions of an official who forced women to urinate on themselves

Judgment just fell. The state was condemned on Thursday 16 February for the behavior of a former Ministry of Culture official who conducted pseudo-interviews in which he forced his victims to urinate on themselves. The sentence issued by the administrative court of Paris calls on the State (her employer, therefore) to compensate a former candidate up to 12,000 euros for the damage suffered, plus 1,500 euros for legal costs. In 2012 she was forced to urinate under a bridge in front of her attacker, before being subsequently hospitalised.

Be anything but isolated

Back to five years ago. The investigation began in 2018, when the official, then deputy regional director for cultural affairs of the Grand-Est, was caught photographing the legs of a sub-prefect. But this is only the tip of the iceberg. Whoever succeeds him finds in his office an Excel file entitled “Experience P” (like “pee”), forgotten on a USB stick. What he discovers there is edifying: for almost ten years, the man who was also a former deputy director of human resources in the cabinet of the minister Aurélie Filippetti, administered diuretics to candidates during pseudo-interviews. His modus operandi? After drugging the candidates’ coffee, he invites them to continue their interview on long walks, with no lavatory nearby, until their suffering is such that they can no longer hold back and they end up urinating in front of him. .

He then records each interview (181 in total) in said Excel file, including the names of his victims, their ages, the date, whether or not they made it to the nearest restroom, and adds various details regarding, for example, the color of their underwear or the appearance of their urine.

“Who are you telling that you pissed yourself in a job interview? »

Revoked in 2019 under the pressure of the (numerous) testimonies that accumulate, the senior official is indicted the same year for “administration of a harmful substance”, “sexual violence by a person who abuses the authority conferred by his function”, “violation of privacy by fixing an image”, “violence by a person entrusted with a mission of service public” and “violation of the medicines legislation “.

Rose, one of the women on the list ofExperience ptells our colleagues about World his anger and misunderstanding: “How was it possible to hide it for so long? Why don’t warning systems work? Where is the employer’s duty to protect – what’s the same here? ». Like many other testimonials, she says she went to the interview with confidence: “I had no reason to be suspicious. I was doing an interview in a public body which forced it on a former member of the Council for equality between women and men”. Very quickly, this confidence gives way to shame and guilt. It’s even impossible for some to share what just happened with those around them. They are far from imagining, at that moment, that they have been drugged without their knowledge.

According to what the court declared on Thursday, at least six women, all employees of the Ministry of Culture, will also be compensated. A symbolic compensation, which cannot fully compensate for the humiliation suffered.

Cover image: Unsplash / Latrach Med Jamil