• Laetitia Avia is suspected of having between June 2017 and August 2020 "publicly expressed mockery, denigration, humiliating remarks" about "personal behavior" or "professional competence".
  • The former MP, who is also a lawyer, has constantly contested the accusations against her.
  • Hearings that lasted longer than expected necessitated the addition of a third day of trial on June 1.

At the Criminal Court in Paris,

Agathe is the first to step forward to the helm, with a determined step. This young woman with long chestnut hair and fine features does not intend to bring a civil action. "All that," she explains, is behind her. "In any case, I am convinced of that." This former parliamentary collaborator just wants to tell her story, "leave a trace" of what she experienced between 2017 and 2018 – she was then 23 years old – when she worked with the former LREM deputy of Paris, Laetitia Avia. A year marked, according to his account, by daily "humiliations" and a "belittling of [his] professional qualities, sometimes in public".

She cites, for example, the day when the former spokesperson of the party, an activist of the first hour, let loose in front of MPs "I present you my slaves" when talking about her and a colleague. Or that time she asked him to fetch keys from his basket of dirty laundry. "It's one of the only things I refused," she says, her throat knotted. Sitting on a jump seat just behind her, Laetitia Avia, now retired from political life, cannot help but regularly roll her eyes or pout to mark her disapproval. Tried for "moral harassment" on seven former employees, she said in the first minutes of the hearing that she "strongly contested all the allegations" made against her.

"It's not humor"

The stories that followed one another late Tuesday evening and Wednesday are nevertheless marked by many similarities. All of them describe on the stand the MP's outbursts of anger and her sharp or inappropriate remarks. Like Aurélie who worked with her for nearly a year and a half. She claims to have been mocked on her white hair – Laetitia Avia will even make an appointment at the hairdresser – or to have been dubbed "table bin" by the MP. "It's not humor, ever, especially when it's repeated countless times in team meals," she insists at the helm.

Patrick, a graduate of a business school specializing in diplomacy, believes that he has gradually become "the trash collaborator", the one who was given "the tasks that were not assigned to anyone": going to the pharmacy, making sure there was coke zero in the fridge. Like many, he tells the story of "policing on Telegram". "There was a flood of messages, it was very complicated to work and every night we went to bed with the fear of missing a message that could fall around 23 p.m., midnight 30. " The young man of Asian origin claims to have also been nicknamed the "Chinese". In an audio recording made without the MP's knowledge and broadcast during the hearing, Laetitia Avia is heard lamenting that "despite his origins, Patrick is not really good at computer matters."

Strong bonds of complicity

The president nevertheless reminds him that he has referred to himself as "the false Chinese" or "the counterfeit". He also admits to having called "once or twice" Laetitia Avia "the blackos". This is the difficulty of this case, all the complainants or almost claim to have had moments of strong complicity with Laetitia Avia, far from the classic links that are generally maintained at work. On several occasions, the assessor asks: could certain remarks experienced as outrageous have been misunderstood humor? And the extended hours described by all, the multiple solicitations are they not part of the work of parliamentary collaborator?

On this last point, Laetitia Avia recognizes it without difficulty: yes, she sent messages late at night. "It's politics that wants that, I worked all the time," she insists. On the rest of the testimonies, on the other hand, the former deputy is inflexible, discrediting for nearly 2h30 the accounts of his accusers. The nickname "table bin" or the reference to its "slaves"? "I never said that." The words about white hair? Laetitia Avia recognizes only a few remarks about the "scruffy" look of her former collaborator. What about the group "Biiitch Talking" created by him to welcome Patrick's departure? "A kid," she admits. But immediately the old politician cannot help but add that his former collaborators "spent their days" criticizing their colleague.

"I laugh a lot, I sing in the office"

Without ever giving credence to the pain described by her accusers, she depicts, on the contrary, a serene working atmosphere. "I laugh a lot, I sing in the office, I don't impose a climate of terror." If she says she is "rigorous" acknowledging that she readily expects the same from her team, she says she never targets "people", "only work".

What does she think, a posteriori, of all these messages that her team sent to each other testifying to their fear that she would get angry, asks the president. "Sometimes they put things in their heads, there's a group effect," she replies. On their bench, they can't help but sigh at each denial of their former leader. The trial, which has been delayed, is scheduled to resume on 1 June.


  • Justice
  • Laetitia Avia
  • Bullying
  • Deputy
  • La République en Marche (LREM)
  • Lawsuit