In response to a question about 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 estimated that “given the gravity of the aforementioned incidents, we consider it necessary for the Lebanese authorities to lift the immunity of the Lebanese ambassador in Paris in order to facilitate the work of French justice. “
The French Foreign Ministry has opened an investigation into suspected rape and violent practices targeting the Lebanese ambassador, after two complaints lodged by two former embassy employees, according to sources familiar with the investigation, confirming a information reported by the French news site. Mediapart.
The first complainant, 31, 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 in Paris since 2017 .
The complainant, who was an editor, confirmed that she refused to have sex and started screaming and crying.
And the woman had already 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 the life of this man”, despite being married. and head of household.
She said she had an “affectionate affair” with the ambassador, who practiced “psychological and physical violence against her and insulted her daily”.
As for the second complainant, aged 28, who formed an intimate relationship with the ambassador after starting to work at the embassy as an intern in 2018, she filed a complaint last February because, according to her, she was the subject of a series of physical assaults, which often resulted from her refusal to have sex.
The complainant claims Adwan tried to hit her with his car following an argument on the sidelines of a peace forum in Caen, western France, in September.
She also accuses the ambassador of trying to strangle her at home by pushing her face into bed in late December.
The ambassador’s legal representative, Karim Belloni, said his client “denies any accusation of assault of any kind, whether verbal, moral or sexual.”
He added that his client “had romantic relationships with these two women between 2018 and 2022, punctuated by arguments and separations”.
And Lebanon announced on Saturday that it would send an investigation team to Paris.
The Lebanese Foreign Ministry said in a statement: “It has been decided to urgently send a commission of inquiry led by the Secretary General of the Ministry and the members of the Director of Inspection, to the Embassy in Paris to investigate the ambassador involved and listen to statements from diplomats and embassy administrators.”
The statement added that the committee will meet “any necessary person from the French official authorities to clarify what has been reported on this subject in the media and has not been duly informed by the Lebanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs through diplomatic channels”.
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