When Sylvie Delezen, a marketing specialist at Lille, was looking for a job in 2015, she was delighted to be contacted on LinkedIn by a human resources manager from the French Ministry of Culture and invited to Paris for an interview.
“It was my dream to work in the Ministry of Culture,” he said.
But instead of finding a job, Delezen, 45, is now one of more than 240 women who are at the center of a criminal investigation into allegedly drugging women without their knowledge where they never expected to be targeted: a job interview.
An investigating judge is investigating allegations that, over a nine-year period, dozens of women interviewed for jobs by Christian Negre, a senior civil servant, were offered by him coffee or tea laced with a powerful and illegal diuretic which he knew would require them to urinate.
The women say Negre would often suggest continuing interviews on long walks away from the restrooms. Many women remember struggling with the need to go to the toilet and feeling constantly sick. Some people say out of frustration that they urinated in a public place, or did not reach the bathroom in time, leaving their clothes wet. He says some people felt a sense of shame and failure which had an impact on their lives.
“At the time, I didn’t even know this type of attack existed,” Delezen said.
The alleged assaults came to light in 2018, when a co-worker reported Negre allegedly attempting to photograph a senior executive’s feet, prompting police to launch an investigation. Authorities found a computer spreadsheet titled “Experiment”, where he allegedly noted drug timing and the women’s reactions.
In 2019, removed from the ministry and the civil service, Nègre was placed under formal investigation over a range of allegations ranging from drugs to sexual harassment. His attorney, Vanessa Stein, said she would not comment while the investigation continues. While awaiting trial, Negre has been able to continue working in the private sector.
Louise Bériot, a lawyer for several women, said of the alleged drug abuse: “Under the guise of sexual fantasy, it is about power and dominance over women’s bodies…through humiliation and control.”
Six years later, the case is the latest to shine a light on drug abuse in France, known as “chemical addiction” in the country. The term came to prominence last year when Giselle Pellicote waived her anonymity in the trial of dozens of men who were found guilty of raping her after her ex-husband drugged her unconscious.
But during drug screenings at job interviews, many women said it was taking years for their cases to be heard, adding to their trauma. “Six years later, we’re still waiting for a trial, which is amazing,” said one of the women, known by the pseudonym Emily. “It’s taking too long. The justice process is bringing more trauma than healing. That’s not what justice is about.”
Deleuzen was 35 when she was invited to the prestigious Ministry of Culture building near the Louvre Museum in Paris and Négre showed her a meeting room. He said, out of politeness he accepted a coffee. “In an interview situation, I would never say no,” she said.
The vending machine was in a busy aisle, and Delezen said he pressed the button himself for lightly sweetened coffee. She said Negre had picked up his cup, turned to greet a co-worker, then walked down the aisle, before returning and handing him the drink. He reportedly suggested going out to see some monuments, adding: “The weather is wonderful; shall we keep going?”
Deleuzen said he was taken to the Tuileries Gardens to answer questions at length, with the entire interview process lasting several hours. She focused on needing a job, leaving her previous position due to health reasons and knowing that her savings were dwindling.
“But I felt an increasing need to urinate,” she said. “My hands were shaking, my heart was racing, beads of sweat were running down my forehead and I was turning red. I said: ‘I’m going to need a technical break.’ But he kept going.”
Eventually, she couldn’t stop: “I wasn’t okay; I thought, what can I do?” He had to crouch along the side of a tunnel leading to a footbridge across the Seine. She said: “He came over, took off his jacket and said: ‘I’ll shield you.’ I thought it was weird.”
She was devastated. “I thought: ‘I’ve ruined my interview.'” On the way home she was unusually thirsty, quickly gulping down several liters of water. “My feet were so swollen from rubbing the shoes that they were bleeding.”
In the months and years that followed, Deleuzen blamed himself for “the mess”. He avoided going to Paris and stopped applying for jobs. He said, “I had nightmares, I felt angry. I didn’t look for work; I felt I was worthless.”
Four years later, in 2019, the police contacted him. She said she discovered that her details had been entered into a spreadsheet along with photographs of her lower legs. She has since been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder. He said, “The time taken for this hearing is taking a heavy toll on me.” “The anger is not ending.”
Another woman contacted by police is Anais de Vos, who was 28 when she applied for a job as a managerial assistant at the Ministry of Culture in 2011. She does not habitually drink coffee. “But in an interview when someone offers coffee, especially a manager, you say yes,” she said. Negre himself went to a corner of the living room to prepare it, he said.
He suggested they walk outside, but De Vos began needing the toilet, and asked him to turn back as he was cold. Instead, he said, he crossed the road in the other direction, to the banks of the Seine.
She said: “He looked me in the eyes and said: ‘Do you need a wee?’ It was as if an adult was talking to a child. I thought it was strange, so I responded in a very cool tone.” He pointed to a storage unit under a bridge as a place to pee, but he refused. “There was a warning light in my brain telling me something was wrong.”
Nègre suggested heading to the Louvre. But the toilette that De Vos found cost €1 and Nègre told him to leave his bag at the ministry. He had no money, and he said he didn’t even have anything to lend her.
Eventually, unable to cope, she ducked into a café. The toilet was upstairs, and as soon as she saw the door, she started to wet her clothes, but managed to dry herself. Later on the train home she said she “felt really sick and like I was going to faint”.
She was not surprised when contacted by police in 2019. “I always felt there was something strange,” she said. “The justice system has taken a lot of time…for us, it feels like we’re being victimized a second time.”
Emily, whose lawyer advised her to use a pseudonym due to the ongoing investigation, was 29 and established in the art world when she started looking for a new job in 2017. Nègre contacted him on LinkedIn and invited him to the regional culture office in Strasbourg, where he worked. He offered her tea and left the room to make it himself, then continued the interview on a river walk and cathedral visit, which lasted two hours, she said.
She said: “I wanted to go to the bathroom, but he said: ‘There’s no toilet here. Let’s just keep walking.’ He was walking very slowly, stopping to ask questions. I was feeling dizzy; I thought I might faint.” She came back and he took her straight to a private toilet adjacent to his office. “It felt really weird,” she said.
Two years later, she heard about a media report on an investigation into the alleged consumption of diuretic drugs by an unnamed individual at the Ministry of Culture. “Suddenly everything made sense, but it was a huge shock,” he said. He lodged a complaint with the police. He left the Strasbourg job and later left France.
Bériot said the case was on an “extraordinary scale” and that the unusually lengthy investigation amounted to “secondary harassment” of women by the justice system in legal terms. He said: “The Pellicote test was a very important first step and chemical degradability remains a major issue.”
Some women have won compensation in a civil case against the state, where the Culture Ministry itself was found not guilty. A Culture Ministry official said it was committed to preventing harassment and sexual violence and providing support to survivors.
The CGT Culture trade union said: “We want the ministry to recognize its responsibility as an employer – there is a systemic problem, which has enabled a senior civil servant to act like this for a decade.” The union said other employees had previously made allegations against him, accusing him of taking photographs of women’s feet in meetings.
Delezen, who now works in marketing for a hairdresser in Lille, said: “My priority is that this doesn’t happen to anyone else again.”
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