A French civil servant accused of drugging greater than 240 female job applicants has been named for the primary time.
Christian Nègre allegedly gave women a drink laced with a diuretic during interviews while working as an HR manager on the French culture ministry, knowing it could make them have to urinate, in keeping with The Guardian.
The interviews were often continued outside, on long walks removed from toilets, with lots of the women feeling ailing and compelled to urinate in public, sometimes wetting themselves.
A court hearing previously reported in French media heard he kept a go surfing his computer of what he called ‘P Experiments’.
The spreadsheet contained detailed records of how the ladies reacted, in addition to photos he apparently took surreptitiously.
The case echoes that of Dominique Pélicot, the French electrician who drugged his wife so dozens of men could rape her while she was unconscious.
The allegations against Nègre, who’s in his early 60s, span a nine-year period and have been dragging through French courts for nearly as long.
In 2019, Nègre was indicted for several charges including ‘aggravated administration of a harmful substance’ and ‘sexual assault by an individual abusing his authority’.
In 2023 a judge ordered the state to pay seven alleged vicitms compensation ranging between €11,000 (£9,600) and €16,000 (£14,000) each.
One other investigating judge has continued to analyze the case, with the variety of alleged victims identified greater than tripling in two years.
Nègre full name can’t be reported in France attributable to legal conventions around ongoing cases but was revealed by The Guardian on Wednesday.
The allegations first got here to light when a colleague saw Nègre attempting to photograph the legs of a senior official.
The colleague reported him, sparking police to open an investigation which led to the invention of the spreadsheet.
One alleged victim, Sylvie Delezenne, told the newspaper Nègre reached out to her on LinkedIn to ask her to the interview when she was 35.
She said the experience – which saw her forced to crouch by a tunnel while Nègre shielded her together with his jacket – left her traumatised and put her off applying for jobs, adding: ‘I had nightmares, indignant outbursts. I didn’t search for work; I assumed I used to be useless.’
The diuretic said to have been used is amazingly strong and may only be obtained illegally in France.
Nègre’s lawyer said her client wouldn’t comment on the case while the investigation continues.
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