2023-06-05 14:42:33
A French approach to lift the immunity of the Lebanese ambassador in Paris
France intends to demand, today, Monday, that the immunity of the Lebanese ambassador to Paris be lifted, who is being investigated on suspicion of rape and deliberate violence, according to a diplomatic source.
In response to a question regarding the possibility of lifting the immunity of Ambassador Rami Adwan, the source told “Agence France Presse” on condition of anonymity, “There are steps in this direction that will be taken during the day.”
On Friday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs considered that “in view of the seriousness of the aforementioned facts, we consider it necessary for the Lebanese authorities to lift the immunity of the Lebanese ambassador to Paris in order to facilitate the work of the French judiciary.” He denies the aggression of the facts.
The French Foreign Ministry opened an investigation on suspicion of rape and violent practices targeting the Lebanese ambassador, following two complaints were filed by two former female employees at the embassy, according to sources close to the investigation, confirming information reported by the French news site Mediapart.
The first 31-year-old complainant filed a complaint in June 2022, confirming, according to the text of the police report, that she was raped in May 2020 in the private apartment of Adwan, Lebanon’s ambassador to Paris since 2017.
In the complaint, the content of which was seen by “France Press”, the complainant, who was an editor, confirms that she refused to have a sexual relationship and resorted to screaming and crying.
And the woman had previously reported to the police in 2020 that Adwan had beaten her during a fight in his office, without filing a complaint on the pretext of “not destroying this man’s life,” while he is married and the head of a family.
She said that she had an “affectionate affair” with the ambassador, who used to practice “psychological and physical violence once morest her and insult her daily.”
As for the second complainant, who is 28 years old, and who established an intimate relationship with the ambassador following starting work at the embassy as a trainee in 2018, she filed a complaint last February because, according to her, she was subjected to a series of physical assaults, which often resulted from her refusal to have sexual relations.
The complainant asserts that Adwan tried to hit her with his car following a quarrel on the sidelines of a forum for peace in Caen, western France, in September.
She also accuses the ambassador of trying to strangle her in her home by shoveling her face into the bed at the end of December.
In a comment he made to “Agence France Presse”, the ambassador’s legal representative, Karim Belloni, said that his client “denies all accusations of assault of any kind: whether verbal, moral or sexual.”
He added that his client “had romantic relations with these two women between 2018 and 2022, punctuated by disputes and separations.”
On Saturday, Lebanon announced sending an investigation team to Paris.
The Lebanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement, “It was decided to urgently dispatch an investigation committee headed by the Secretary-General of the Ministry and the membership of the Director of Inspection, to the embassy in Paris to investigate the concerned ambassador and listen to the statements of the embassy’s diplomats and administrators.”
The statement added that the committee will meet “whoever is necessary from the French official authorities to clarify what was reported regarding it in the media and was not duly informed by the Lebanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs through diplomatic channels.”
(AFP)
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