A former French government minister has been sentenced to jail after an appeal court convicted him of the rape and sexual abuse of staff at the town hall where he is mayor.
Two former municipal employees accused Georges Tron, who claimed to be an expert reflexologist, of making them submit to foot massages that turned into sexual assaults in 2007 and 2010.
Tron was cleared of the charges in 2018 after a court decided there was no evidence the women had been forced into sexual acts, but at an appeal trial this week the jury upheld the accusations from one of the plaintiffs.
The court decided that the “seriousness of the accusations”, Tron’s “persistent denials” and “the pressure exercised on witnesses and victims” justified a jail sentence.
The court also recognised the “moral constraint” Tron exercised over the two female employees because of their “subordinate role” at the town hall.
“It’s a great victory for all women who may have problems at their workplace,” Vincent Ollivier, lawyer for one of the victims, said after the verdict.
Tron, 63, who repeatedly insisted he was “totally innocent” lost his seat in president Nicolas Sarkozy’s cabinet in 2011 after the accusations emerged, but was reelected as mayor of Dravail south of Paris despite the allegations.
After 11 hours of deliberation on Wednesday, the jury imposed a five year prison sentence, two years of which were suspended. This was harsher than the punishment requested by the attorney general who had suggested Tron be given two years nonsuspended to be served out of jail while wearing an electronic bracelet.
Tron’s deputy mayor Brigitte Gruel, who also denied charges of aiding and abetting the sex attacks, was given a suspended two-year prison sentence.
The two female town hall employees went to the police after the Socialist presidential hopeful Dominique Strauss-Kahn, then head of the International Monetary Fund, was accused of assaulting a hotel worker in 2011. Strauss-Kahn’s arrest prompted a number of French women to come forward to report sexual abuse and was a precursor to the global #MeToo movement sparked by the arrest of Hollywood director Harvey Weinstein.
In previous hearings, Tron, a member of the centre right Les Républicains party, was represented by Eric Dupond-Moretti, now the justice minister. Tron had claimed the accusations were a plot by the far right in the town where he has been mayor since 1995.
Loïc Guérin, who defended the plaintiff whose accusations were not upheld by the court, added: “Rape isn’t just a stranger jumping on a young woman in the corner of a car park, but can also be exercised through the power of a powerful hierarchical superior, on a junior who is asked for sexual favours that she would not otherwise have granted.”