"I didn't even know this kind of attack existed" — France shocked by 240 accusations against a civil servant
A scandal reminiscent of the case that popularised the term "chemical submission" has rocked France: over 240 women say they were unknowingly drugged during job interviews by a senior civil servant at the Ministry of Culture, according to reporting by The Guardian.
What victims say happened: "chemical submission"
More than 240 women allege that, over nearly a decade, Christian Nègre — a senior official at France’s Ministry of Culture — offered them coffee laced with a strong, illegal diuretic. The drug allegedly caused an abrupt, uncontrollable need to urinate. Witnesses say Nègre then led them on long walks outside, away from toilets, exploiting the vulnerability he had created.
Lawyers describe the practice as a form of "chemical submission" and "control of the body" through humiliation. The term became widely known in France only last year after a high‑profile case reported in the media; The Guardian reports the new accusations broaden the phenomenon to deliberate physical weakening to satisfy perverse aims (The Guardian).
Personal accounts: humiliation and lasting trauma
Sylvie Delezenne says she believed in 2015 that she had a once‑in‑a‑lifetime opportunity: a LinkedIn contact, an interview in Paris at the Ministry of Culture, a career she had long sought. She accepted a coffee out of courtesy — a coffee that later turned out to have been tampered with. During the interview, Nègre allegedly took her on ever‑longer walks in the Tuileries Gardens. Her need to urinate became unbearable; her requests for a break were ignored. In panic she was forced to relieve herself semi‑hidden in a tunnel beside the Seine while he told her he would "protect" her with his jacket. Delezenne says the experience left her with post‑traumatic stress, nightmares and a lasting sense of lost dignity.
Anaïs de Vos, who was 28 and looking for work in 2011, describes a similar encounter. She rarely drank coffee but accepted it during an interview. Minutes later, on a supposed professional walk toward the Seine, she was overcome by an urgent need to use the toilet. When she asked to return, he diverted her and spoke to her "like a child", even suggesting a storage room under a bridge. She ended up rushing into a café and narrowly avoiding an accident, feeling ill on the journey home. Years later, when the police called after discovering her name in a file, she was not surprised.
Several women say police notified them in 2019 after finding their names in a folder belonging to Nègre titled "Experiments," which included photographs of women's lower limbs.
Investigation, delays and institutional questions
Police inquiries began in 2018 after a colleague reported that Nègre had attempted to photograph a senior employee's feet; that complaint led to the discovery of the notorious "Experiments" file. Nègre was formally placed under investigation in 2019. Despite the scale of the allegations, The Guardian reports that, six years on, his trial has not yet started. In the meantime he continued working in the private sector while awaiting prosecution.
Victims say the slow pace of the judicial process amounts to a second, open wound. "The justice system makes us wait for too long. It's like a second victimisation," one woman said.
Their lawyer, Louise Beriot, argues the acts reveal more than a sexual fantasy: they amount to a mechanism of power and domination, an imposition on women's bodies.
The revelations have prompted limited state compensation to some affected women, though institutional responsibility has not been formally recognised. The culture sector union CGT has described the case as a "systemic problem" within the ministry, saying the environment allowed Nègre to operate unchecked for years despite prior complaints of harassment.
(Reporting and details as described by The Guardian.)
