Lebanese ambassador to France under investigation for rape and violence

Lebanese ambassador to France under investigation for rape and violence

The Lebanese ambassador to Paris Rami Adwan is under investigation for rape and intentional violence after two women, former employees of the embassy, ​​filed a complaint, according to documents that Agence France-Presse consulted. ” Faced with the seriousness of the facts mentioned “, the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs asked ” that the Lebanese authorities lift the immunity “diplomatic of the ambassador in office since 2017” to facilitate the work of justice “.

According to the account of the first plaintiff, consulted by AFP and relayed by the Mediapart newspaper, the rape allegedly took place in May 2020 in the ambassador’s private apartment. The 31-year-old says she refused sex with him, screamed and cried… in vain. She also reports having received blows on the head from a man described in her complaint as exercising ” psychological and physical violence with daily humiliation “.

Employed as an editor, the complainant had already reported to the police in 2020 that the ambassador had hit her during an argument in her office. However, she had decided not to file a complaint so as not to ” not destroy this man’s life », married and father of a family.

Another woman, aged 28 and recruited as an intern in 2018, accuses the ambassador in office since 2017 several acts of violence committed when she refused sex. In Caen, during the Forum for Peace last September, he allegedly tried to run her over with his car and, according to his story, he also tried to asphyxiate her at home, by pushing her face down on her bed. .

The diplomat, through his lawyer, disputes these serious accusations. For him, it was ” love relationships enamelled with disputes and breakups “, recognizes Rami Adwan via his advice. ” My client disputes any accusation of assault in any form whatsoever: verbal, moral, sexual “, reacted Me Karim Beylouni.

The French authorities reacted on Friday June 2 “ Faced with the seriousness of the facts mentioned, we consider it necessary for the Lebanese authorities to lift the immunity of the Lebanese ambassador in Paris in order to facilitate the work of French justice. “, reacted Friday evening to AFP the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Asked by AFP about this case and the follow-up it intends to give it, while Rami Adwan enjoys diplomatic immunity, the Paris prosecutor’s office replied ” unable to respond at this time “.

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