Newly-Appointed Female Minister In Emmanuel Macron’s New Government Investigated Over Rape Claims

A newly appointed female minister in French President Emmanuel Macron’s new government is under investigation for rape. 

Chrysoula Zacharopoulou, the 46-year-old Secretary of State for Development, is the subject of two complaints from a woman who cannot be named for legal reasons.

A source at the Paris public prosecutor’s office on Wednesday told the Marianne news outlet that the latest case related to Ms. Zacharopoulou’s time as a gynaecologist.

‘An enquiry has been opened into two alleged acts of rape which were allegedly committed in the suspect’s medical duties,’ said the source.

The first complaint was filed on May 25, and the investigation was opened two days later ‘to determine whether the facts are likely to fall within the scope of criminality’. The second complaint was filed on June 16.

Examining magistrates are now working on the enquiry with a specialist police brigade, meaning Ms. Zacharopoulou has already been interviewed at length.

Ms. Zacharopoulou, a Greece-born former MEP, joined the French government on May 20 – before last Sunday’s disastrous election results, which saw Mr. Macron lose his parliamentary majority.