It is a question of a “hand on the buttocks”, dared under the golds of the National Assembly. In a short message posted on her Twitter feed, Julia Castanier accuses Jean Lassalle of having committed this gesture against her eight years ago. She was then the assistant of Pierre Gosnat (PCF), still deputy and mayor of Ivry-sur-Seine. He came to sit as a deputy for Pyrénées-Atlantiques. ” I don’t remember anything “, he declared to The Republic of the Pyrenees.
In a few characters, published on Saturday, Julia Castanier is however categorical: “I was 25 years old and I was parliamentary attaché”, she indicates, before specifying that she was going to the Hemicycle. His allegation is punctuated with the infamous “#BalanceTonPorc”. The hashtag that has ignited social networks since the call for testimonies launched by journalist Sandra Muller last Friday. So many tweets and Facebook statuses dedicated to denouncing the harassment of women.
Julia Castanier on October 14, 2017
While many choose to remain vague, the 33-year-old Ivryenne – now the communications director of the French Communist Party – did not opt for anonymous denunciation. “I just want my testimony to serve all the women who suffer the effects of sexism every day”, she confides to the Parisian, however, considering that the process is “already hard enough” to indulge in any other comment.
The assertion of Julia Castanier however hits the headlines. And Jean Lassalle has been defending himself since Saturday: “It’s not in my kind of practice”, assures the one who was 54 years old in 2009, then general councilor and mayor of a small town in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques.
“I have been criticized for being a little macho in the way I talk about certain situations, recognizes the thundering candidate for President of the Republic in April. But I have never been accused of behavior of this type. “I am earthy, tactile, but I know the difference between a hand on an arm, which I recognize resting on both men and women, and a hand on the ass. I will remember it!”, he declared to South West. Despite these responses, and the messages of hatred that flourish on the web against her, Julia Castanier takes nothing away from her statements.
« Pierre [Gosnat] allowed me as a young woman to evolve in the political world with serenity, explains to the Parisian the communist militant, always member of the direction of the section of Ivry. It’s because I worked with a member who was so respectful of women and their rights that I don’t generalize. »
