The epilogue of a case that had stirred up the legislative campaign in the seats of La France insoumise? One of the accusers of the short-lived candidate Taha Bouhafs withdrew her testimony against the journalist, accused of sexual violence, according to information from The expressconfirmed by AFP.
Former LFI candidate for the 14th arrondissement of the Rhône, withdrew his candidacy on May 10, before the following day, the party justified this withdrawal on suspicion of sexual assault.
“I don’t know what they accuse me of”
In mid-May, the movement’s monitoring committee against sexual and gender violence, seized “a testimony regarding alleged acts of sexual violence”, assured that an internal investigation had been opened and that the young man had “been confronted with the charges against him.”
Silent in the following weeks, the young man finally spoke out in July in an open letter posted on social media. said the journalist “ignorant” of what he was accused of and “have never been confronted with the charges”.
Taha Bouhafs again criticized LFI for not allowing her to defend herself against these “sexual violence” allegations.
“We are not a court”
“We are not a court, we are a political organization whose decisions on sexual and gender violence are the precaution and protection of the members of our movement and not a judicial decision that we can never replace,” LFI had responded in a press release, adding that “our authorities can listen to Taha Bouhafs”.
Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s movement had once again defended its “desire for confidentiality” from whistleblowers.
depression and dismissal
In a statement that Taha Bouhafs broadcast on Twitter on Friday nighttheir lawyers Maîtres William Bourdon, Vincent Brengarth and Raphaël Kempf take note of the withdrawal of a testimony in this political ‘proceeding’, from the outset, flawed by its absence of any contradictory nature, and from which we have not obtained, to date , no factual element”.
They continue to call for “the relentlessness of stopping” so that their “25-year-old client who is not subject to any judicial process can resume a more or less normal life.” According to them, Taha Bouhafs, fired as a result of this affair from Media, a web channel close to LFI, has not found a job and has gone through “a serious period of depression”.
Source: BFM TV
