Nearly 250 women accuse a former senior official of drugging them during interviews.

According to several testimonies, a former senior official at the Ministry of Culture, Christian Nègre, is suspected of having administered substances without their knowledge to nearly 250 women between 2009 and 2018. Several of them claim to have received diuretics during supposed professional interviews, before being taken to public places when they could no longer control their urge to urinate.

Anaïs de Vos recounts meeting him in July 2011 for a position at the Ministry of Culture in Paris. Aged 27, she says she accepted a coffee prepared by the civil servant before experiencing significant weakness and an urgent need to urinate. He then allegedly suggested they continue the interview outside, and later directed them to a room located under a bridge when she asked for a restroom.

A mysterious file titled "P Experiments"

The young woman had finally managed to reach the restroom of a café, but lost control of her bladder before entering. It wasn't until several years later that she understood what had happened to her. In 2019, the police contacted her and informed her that she was among nearly 200 women who may have experienced similar incidents. Other women have come forward since.

The investigation began in June 2018 after a colleague caught Christian Nègre photographing a woman under a table. Suspended from his position as regional director of cultural affairs, he was subsequently dismissed in 2019. Investigators reportedly discovered a spreadsheet on his computer listing the times of the interviews, the alleged times the drugs were administered, and intimate information about the women involved.

Diuretics used to provoke humiliating situations

Marie-Hélène Brice claims to have had a similar experience in Strasbourg in 2016. After experiencing intense pain during a walk, she says she was forced to urinate in a public space while Christian Nègre watched. She maintains that she still suffers from urinary problems and considers herself to have been the victim of a sexual assault.

Investigators suspect the former official of having used diuretics, normally prescribed for certain conditions such as hypertension. These substances cause excessive urine production. Toxicologist Jean-Claude Alvarez believes their use in a context of drug-facilitated sexual assault is particularly unusual. His laboratory is now searching for these products among the substances analyzed.

Victims still awaiting trial

Christian Nègre, now in his sixties, has been formally charged with, among other things, administering harmful substances, invasion of privacy, and sexual assault. According to the prosecutor's office, he admitted to investigators that he had subjected women to humiliating situations during interviews. When contacted by the BBC through his lawyer, he declined to comment on the accusations. He remains presumed innocent.

Several women are denouncing the slow pace of the proceedings, some having waited seven years for their cases to go to trial. They believe this wait prolongs their suffering and forces them to continually demonstrate the psychological consequences of the alleged acts. The case also reveals the limitations of drug-facilitated sexual assault testing, as many victims do not immediately realize they may have been drugged.