MP Sandrine Rousseau is waiting for a political outcome to the Julien Bayou affair, after it was closed without further action

Julien Bayou, who left the party presidency and the movement because of internal investigations against him, has filed a complaint for defamation.

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MP Sandrine Rousseau believes that the dismissal of the Julien Bayou case, acquitted after accusations of moral harassment and abuse of weakness, does not put an end to the political management of this subject within the Ecologists. While the investigation targeting the former leader of the environmental movement was dismissed for "absence of offence" , the MP, who had accused Julien Bayou of "behaviour likely to undermine the moral health of women" , emphasises that " legally, the dismissal makes him presumed innocent of the facts referred to in these complaints" , in a press release published on Monday 24 February on the Bluesky social network.

But she points out that "this is not necessarily the end of the procedure" , because Julien Bayou's ex-partner who filed the complaint does not rule out the possibility of bringing a civil action. She also believes that "the political question is still awaiting its outcome and that is what is creating confusion and harming the party" .

About the Bayou affair.

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Sandrine Rousseau argues: "At the Ecologists, we would not tolerate, in the name of our values, that an activist praises the merits of pesticides or advocates the ownership of private jets, yet these positions would not be covered by the law."

But "if we are, as we claim, a feminist party, why do we have so much trouble recognizing that if some of our members were humiliated by a man who used the share of power that we had entrusted to him for this purpose, this contravenes our rules, our values ​​and requires a reaction from our party?" she asks. The conclusions of two internal investigations conducted by the party went in the same direction as the legal proceedings. The Ecologists deplored the "suffering" and the "negative consequences" that this affair caused for Julien Bayou, who accuses the current leadership of "mediocrity" and "cowardice".

Julien Bayou, who left the party presidency and the movement because of internal investigations against him, filed a complaint for defamation. "With each new denial of my innocence (...) this case is fueled and will end with convictions," he promised.