An investigation was opened on Tuesday for sexual harassment and assault to examine the complaint filed by left-wing activist Sophie Tissier against the LFI president of the Assembly’s Finance Committee Éric Coquerel, the Paris prosecutor’s office said on Wednesday. Sophie Tissier, a 43-year-old former figure of the Yellow Vests, denounces in her complaint, filed in early July, facts “may be similar to a sexual assault” dating from August 23, 2014 in Grenoble, which would have been committed by Coquerel, this which he disputes.
The maximum period being six years to lodge a complaint in the event of an offence, the facts could be prescribed. The investigations were entrusted to the Brigade for the Suppression of Delinquency against Persons (BRDP). The investigation concerns, for the moment, only the complaint of Sophie Tissier, according to two sources close to the file.
The activist had explained that she had been “despised” by the party La France insoumise (LFI) “for years” and reported the “terrible consequences” on her life and her career as an activist since the “actions” of Coquerel, during an evening in 2014. The former Yellow Vest had denounced, on BFMTV, “inappropriate gestures, wandering hands” during an evening organized by the party in 2014, evoking “a salacious, sticky look”, “a clumsy flirt and “outrageous, offensive, harassing” behavior on the part of the MP.
Repeated support from Jean-Luc Mélenchon
According to Sophie Tissier, Éric Coquerel also sent him text messages offering to take him to his hotel. She also claimed to have made a report to LFI’s Sexual Violence Monitoring Committee (CVSS). The activist had made public her accusations against Coquerel just after her accession on June 30 to the strategic post of chairman of the Finance Committee of the National Assembly.
His accusations were “timely relayed without restraint, investigation or verification of any kind” and “allowed talk about something else “, had reacted on July 3 the senior LFI official on BFMTV, attacking in particular a journalist from the channel.
Éric Coquerel has received repeated support from Jean-Luc Mélenchon. He “is not guilty of anything at all” and “is the subject of a rumor and a political operation”, denounced the leader of the Insoumis. The opening of this investigation comes as LFI is the subject of criticism over its internal management of accusations of sexual violence.