A case that leaves you speechless and reopens the debate on gender violence and illegal substances used to abuse women. In France, after the sensational case of Pélicot, there is another scandal: a former official of the Ministry of Culture is accused of having administered illegal diuretics to candidates during job interviews, with the sole purpose of observing their growing physical discomfort.
As reported by The Guardian, since 2019 Christian Nègre he is officially under investigation for crimes ranging from drug administration to sexual violence. Despite this, he continued to work in the private sector while awaiting trial.
The judicial proceedings, in fact, have not yet been celebrated, but the stories of almost 250 women paint a chilling picture. The candidates were invited to drink tea or coffee at the beginning of the interview, after which Nègre suggested that they continue the conversation outdoors or in places away from toilets. At that point, the women – forced by a strong need to urinate – experienced moments of extreme suffering, often ending up wetting their clothes in public.
Many, first and foremost Sylvie Delezenne, said they had felt shame, guilt and failure, with repercussions on their personal and professional lives.
My hands were shaking, my heart was pounding and I felt sweat on my forehead. I asked for a break, but he kept walking.
I wasn’t well. I thought: “what can I do?”, says another woman. She had to crouch at the side of a tunnel leading to a pedestrian bridge over the Seine. She said: “He came over, took off his jacket and said: ‘I’ll protect you.’ It seemed strange to me.”
The first suspicions emerged in 2018, after a complaint from a colleague. During the investigations, the police found a sheet in which Nègre noted the times of administration of the substances and the reactions of the women, entitled “Experiments”.
Only then was he removed from public office.
How to stop these abuses?
Episodes like this inevitably bring to mind the dramatic case of Gisèle Pélicot, the French woman who for years was drugged, sedated and forced by her husband to suffer violence from dozens of strangers, without any possibility of defense. Only after a long time did he find the courage to report, becoming a symbol of the fight against the most extreme and invisible forms of abuse.
The pain of these stories forces us to reflect deeply: violence is not always evident. Sometimes it happens silently, it creeps into trust, dependence and, above all, power dynamics. And when substances that alter the freedom to act or react are used, the victim is deprived of even the awareness of what he is experiencing.
No woman should feel guilty or ashamed after being manipulated, humiliated or deprived of her self-determination. Speaking out, asking for help and reporting are gestures of courage that can save lives, even if they often require a long time and a complex process.
These testimonies – however painful – are fundamental to breaking the silence, recognizing the seriousness of these behaviors and building a society that truly protects, that believes in the victims and that no longer allows suffering to be transformed into a spectacle or instrument of power.
Because a person’s dignity and safety are never negotiable.
