Scandal has hit France’s reshuffled government after freshly minted Minister for Solidarity, Autonomy and Disabled People, Damien Abad, was accused of raping two women.
In a statement on Sunday, the 42-year-old said he contested the accusations – published late Saturday by the news site Mediapart – “with the greatest force”.
“I deny having exercised any form of coercion on any woman,” said Abad, who suffers from arthrogryposis – a rare condition that he claims limits his movements and gestures.
“These accusations relate to acts or gestures that are simply impossible for me because of my disability.”
The alleged sexual violence concerns incidents that reportedly took place in 2010 and 2011.
Judicial sources told BFM TV that an initial rape complaint had been filed and closed without action in April 2012. A second complaint filed in December 2017 ended in the same result.
Abad, a former president of the Republicans political group in the National Assembly, was a member of the European parliament before being elected to the French parliament in 2017.
Credit: rfi.fr
