ZACHAROPOULOU. Two rape complaints have been filed against Chrysoula Zacahroupoulou, Secretary of State to the Minister of Foreign Affairs. The Paris prosecutor’s office has opened an investigation.
[Mis à jour le 22 juin 2022 à 14h33] Chrysoula Zacharopoulou, the Secretary of State for Development, La Francophonie and International Partnerships is in turmoil. The minister is the subject of two complaints of rape has learned Marianne this Wednesday, June 22. The alleged acts were allegedly committed in “a medical setting” in 2016 when the minister was practicing as a gynecologist. The two complainants, who are said to be former patients of the Minister, denounce gynecological sexual assaults, that is to say non-consensual penetrations carried out during a medical examination, according to information from France info. At the alleged time of the facts, Chrysoula Zacharopoulou practiced medicine in Paris, in the Trousseau and Tenon hospitals, under the direction of Doctor Emile Daraï. Which is also targeted by a judicial investigation and accused of rape and other gynecological violence by 25 patients.
The first complaint against Chrysoula Zacharopoulou was filed on May 25, 2022 and the second arose a few weeks later, on June 16, according to the Paris prosecutor’s office. Justice followed up on the first complaint by opening an investigation on May 27 to “determine whether the facts are likely to fall within the scope of a criminal qualification”. The investigations are still under the responsibility of the personal crime repression brigade (BRDP). Chrysoula Zacharopoulou is not the first member of the government to be accused of rape, but she is the only one to be investigated. Contacted by France infoMatignon did not wish to comment on the case.
Who is Chrysoula Zacharopoulou?
Member of the Republic on the Move (LREM), Chrysoula Zacharopoulou entered the Borne government on May 20, 2022, five days before the filing of the first rape complaint against her, as Secretary of State for Development, Francophonie and International partnerships, under the leadership of Catherine Colonna, Minister of Foreign Affairs. An appointment within the ministerial team which made her give up her seat as an MEP in the European Parliament, a place she had occupied since July 2, 2019.
As a doctor and holder of a doctorate on endometriosis at the Roman University La Sapienza, Chrysoula Zacharopoulou has done a lot for the recognition and the fight against endometriosis. In January 2011, the Secretary of State also gave Emmanuel Macron a full report on the subject.