Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – French prosecutors have opened an investigation into the alleged rape of a female soldier by a fellow soldier at the presidential palace in Paris last July.
An AFP report on Friday (11/12/2021) said the alleged attack took place after a reception for the departure of a general and two others attended by President Emmanuel Macron. The allegations of this incident were first reported by the French daily Libération.
According to Libération, the two soldiers were colleagues stationed in a high-security office in the Lysée Palace that handled sensitive government matters. Most of them are either secret or very secret.
It is said that the young woman filed a rape complaint at a nearby police station, and that the alleged accuser has been dismissed from duty at the lysée.
Meanwhile, according to judicial sources, the accused soldier was appointed as an assistant witness after being questioned by prosecutors on July 12. The status also shows that he is still undergoing further questioning although he has not been formally charged.
Prior to the rape incident, Macron’s office was in the news after it was revealed that one of the presidential guards attacked demonstrators while posing as police officers during May Day protests in 2018.
Last week his bodyguard, Alexandre Benalla, was sentenced to three years for the incident. But under French sentencing rules, he would avoid a cell and only have to wear an electronic bracelet for one year.
“Since the Benalla case, Patrick Strzoda, Emmanuel Macron’s chief of staff, has wanted to respond decisively and swiftly as soon as there has been any inappropriate behavior by anyone working at the Elysee,” a presidential source said.
When this news was published, the French defense ministry declined to comment on the rape incident.
(tfa/tfa)
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