While France is reeling from the Lyhanna affair, and in particular malfunctions in the justice system contributed to this tragedy, l’émotion est plus vivte que jamais autour des violences sexuelles, de la protection des victimes et du traitement judiciaire des plaintes. Babette de Rozières, Conseillère régionale Paris Île-de-France, a souhaité prendre la parole dans une tribune particulièrement offensive qu’elle a envoyée à la rédaction d’InterviewsThe elected official denounces what she considers to be political and judicial failures in the face of violence against women and children, while directly challenging several public officials.

Son texte est dans le prolongement des débats suscités par l’affaire Lyhanna, par les critiques visant le fonctionnement du parquet et par les interrogations récurrentes sur la capacité de l’État à protéger les victimes, notamment lorsque des personnalités proches du pouvoir sont mises en cause. Babette de Rozières y mêle indignation personnelle, analyse politique et appel à une réforme profonde de la justice.

We are publishing this opinion piece in its entirety below. The statements made, accusations made, and opinions expressed are solely those of the author.

Open letter from Babette de Rozières:

“Twenty-six ministers or political figures close to Macron have been involved in political-financial affairs since Macron came to power in 2017, including four Ministers of Justice, among them Gérald Darmanin, implicated in three cases of rape and sexual harassment that were dismissed, and still in office, even thoughEmmanuel MacronIn 2017, upon taking office, he declared: "Any minister placed under investigation will be required to leave the government."

Dismissing cases without further action has become a specialty under Macron's governance.

Of the 26 people involved, and it would be too tedious to list them all, some, the majority, have had their cases dismissed for insufficiently characterized offence.

For the others, the cases are still ongoing. This means that the public prosecutor's office, which retains the right to prosecute, considered that the half-empty and half-full bottle that is the presumption of innocence was not sufficiently filled and did not contain enough evidence to bring the perpetrator to trial, even if a nauseating sediment remains at the bottom of the bottle.

It is worth remembering that the public prosecutor's office, which includes all the public prosecutors, police chiefs and grand masters of the judicial clocks, is structurally attached to and under the hierarchical control of the Minister of Justice, who is a politician, a member of the government, appointed by the President of the Republic.

At the Ministry of Justice, it's all about backroom deals and cronyism.

It is high time to sever the statutory link between public prosecutors and judges, who alone should enjoy complete independence. This requires a courageous political will to overhaul the 1958 statute governing the judiciary and integrate prosecutors into the 1953 civil service statute, making them state agents hierarchically subordinate to the Minister of Justice.

That being said.

Paul-Hugo Verdin, the current chief of staff to the Prime Minister, is coming out of the woodwork.

In my capacity as an elected representative of the Île-de-France Region, I have been informed of rape allegations that took place in the fall of 2024 in the office of the chief of staff of Mr. Sébastien Lecornu, then Minister of the Armed Forces.

The factual elements that were reported to me in October 2025 appeared to me to be sufficiently serious and detailed for me to consider it necessary to refer the matter to the public prosecutor on the basis of Article 40 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.

According to information provided by my lawyer, who is handling this case, the matter was known to the Paris prosecutor's office, which had already dismissed it in July 2025, something I was unaware of. So far, nothing new: the case has therefore been reopened and the investigation is ongoing.

I will not go back over the circumstances that led me to reveal the facts, except to specify that it was in the context of an interview about my professional career given on February 13, 2026 on the internet television channel Scroll-Téléradio that, responding to a current affairs question from the journalist about the Epstein case, I quite naturally mentioned the facts that were the subject of my report, taking care not to mention the name of Paul-Hugo Verdin.

It was through a letter from his lawyer to the journalist that the author, feeling targeted by Mr. Paul-Hugo Verdin, currently chief of staff to Mr. Sébastien Lecornu, demanded the removal of the broadcast segment, threatening to file a defamation lawsuit. The channel refused, arguing that the assailant's name had not been mentioned on air.

The case was picked up and commented on on social media, which erupted with over 700,000 views.

Open letter to Sébastien Lecornu.

In the absence of an official response, on March 13, 2026 I sent a letter to the Minister of the Armed Forces to raise the issue of sexual violence committed within our armed forces and against minors: no response.

The same applies to a letter addressed to the Minister of Health on the same subject: no response.

Unable to leave things as they were, I therefore published on social media an open letter to Mr. Sébastien Lecornu, now Prime Minister, with whom I had a good relationship when he was Minister for Overseas Territories, knowing that he made the fight against sexual and gender-based violence "his hobbyhorse": no response.

I do not understand how a minister could have covered up criminal acts of rape, once he was aware of them, as shown by his interventions and decisions in the chronological unfolding of events:

The victim was taken to Paris City Hall in the days that followed, and is now unemployed and looking for a job.

Mr. Paul-Hugo Verdin, the alleged perpetrator, was exiled for two months to Mayotte while the case calmed down, then reinstated to his position by order of Sébastien Lecornu on the same day as the case was closed without further action, on July 28, 2025.

President Macron's speech

I have kept in mind the content of President Macron's speech on November 25, 2017, during the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, when he declared that he was making this scourge "the great cause of his five-year term".

What has he done since? He who, when he was 14 years old at the La Providence high school in Amiens, had to know his theatre teacher, aged 39, married and mother of two children at the time of the events.

The parents of the minor, Macron, were indeed tempted to take legal action. One has the right to ask whether the statute of limitations has expired for the facts that were known to the teachers. I wonder!

Currently, 32,000 women work across all military fields in our armed forces. The Thémis unit, created specifically in 2014 and restructured by Mr. Sébastien Lecornu in 2024 to facilitate and strengthen investigative resources and protect victims of sexual and gender-based assaults, received 226 reports in 2023, including 27 rapes.

In 2024, there were 326 reports, including 43 rapes, and the figures are rising for 2025.

It is therefore a matter of public health and a subject of national interest to tackle this scourge that is plaguing our society, and the French have the right to expect a response.

The implementation of a genuine plan to protect women victims of rape in our armed forces and, more generally, in the workplace, is more relevant than ever, and it is important to completely review the legislative framework and criminal policy.

Failing to report these acts only encourages recidivism. Remaining silent is tantamount to acquiescence, to complicity, to denying recognition to the victims, to the outraged and traumatized women.

A vulgar method of intimidation

As for me, and in my capacity as an elected official, I was summoned to appear before the court for defamation at the request of Mr. Paul-Hugo Verdin, for having dared to denounce the facts as I was obligated to do under the provisions of Article 40 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. The courts will decide.

This is an unspeakable act of intimidation that I condemn and which is unworthy of a chief of staff.

But what is Mr. Paul-Hugo Verdin afraid of?

Why didn't he file a complaint with a civil claim against me?

Is he afraid of the questions from an investigating judge who might be appointed?

Why did he remain hidden in Mayotte after the rape?

In the current context, with its share of sexual assaults involving prominent figures, it is urgent to take appropriate measures to encourage women to speak out and to protect them from sexual and gender-based violence, whether in the family, in the workplace, or, as in this case, within a ministerial office, because rape marks a woman in her flesh for life.

"Rape is an act of non-consensual penetration."

Rape is an act of assault, it is not an act of love.

A woman's vagina is not the receptacle into which a man in rut pours his gametes to satisfy his animal urges.

The physical and psychological consequences for victims of sexual assault are perpetual, and the personality disorders are irreversible.

Rape hurts, and I know what I'm talking about.

The victims, when they do not lose their lives, suffer from anal or vaginal tears, cuts, bruises, disturbing emotions and sleep disorders.

I cannot remain silent about the murder of Lyhanna, which could have been avoided if the Minister of Justice, Keeper of the Seals, Gérald Darmanin, hierarchical head of the prosecutors, had not failed in his mission to protect our children from sexual predators.

I call for the resignation of the Minister of Justice, who should recognize his shortcomings rather than offering a pathetic apology to the French people and clinging to his seat to protect his privileged position.

A little modesty, Mr. Minister of Justice!

Women have carried within them the future of humanity since the beginning of the world and deserve protection and respect.

It's time for action. We're fed up with this government of irresponsible, petty tyrants lurking in the corridors of power!

We need a real Minister of Justice, capable of carrying out a profound reform of the completely rotten judicial system, before the French revolt.

I am outraged by so much negligence, which places France third among the most dangerous and corrupt countries.

Jacques Chirac once said: "These days, we transplant everything: kidneys, arms, a heart, except testicles due to a lack of donors." And you certainly won't find them at the Ministry of Justice...

Babette of Rozieres
Regional Councillor for Paris Île-de-France (UDR)
Grand Prize for French Influence