ع
The scale of the allegations against Nègre, who served as a regional director of cultural affairs and deputy human resources director, has grown to encompass nearly 250 women, with many recounting how the former official offered them coffee or tea laced with a powerful diuretic before taking them on long walks that led to uncontrollable urges to urinate. According to The Guardian, which reported on the case in November 2025, some women wet their clothes or were forced to relieve themselves in public spaces such as tunnels or along canals while Nègre watched, in what prosecutors have described as deliberate humiliation. A spreadsheet titled Experiments P found on his computer documented the timing of the alleged drugging, how long it took for effects to appear and details about the victims’ clothing, Le Monde noted in coverage of related court rulings.
Anaïs de Vos told BBC News she was 27 and applying for a ministry job in Paris in July 2011 when Nègre made her a coffee that tasted unpleasant and soon left her feeling weak with an urgent need to urinate. “I was really weak. I couldn’t really feel my legs any more,” de Vos said, adding that he directed her toward a storage cupboard under a bridge on the River Seine with the words “You can do it here” before she managed to reach a cafe toilet where she lost control. Marie-Hélène Brice described a similar 2016 encounter in Strasbourg to the same outlet, saying Nègre suggested a walk to calm her nerves along a canal, then observed her as she suffered severe pain and had to urinate publicly while he shielded her with his jacket but did not look away.
The investigation opened in June 2018 after a colleague caught Nègre photographing a woman from under a table, prompting his immediate suspension and dismissal from the ministry the following year. Prosecutors stated that during initial questioning Nègre acknowledged imposing humiliating situations on women during job interviews, a claim that aligns with the accounts of accusers who only learned years later through police contact that they formed part of a wider pattern. In 2023 a French court ordered the state to compensate seven victims, ruling that the ministry bore responsibility for the hiring practices that enabled the alleged abuses, according to Le Monde.
Nègre, now in his 60s, faces formal investigation on charges of drugging without consent, invasion of privacy and sexual assault, though he has declined to comment through his lawyer and the case has yet to reach trial more than eight years after it began. The accusations have been linked by multiple outlets including RFI and France 24 to the broader issue of chemical submission that gained prominence after the 2024 conviction of Dominique Pelicot for sedating his wife and inviting strangers to assault her. French MP Sandrine Josso, who successfully campaigned for legislation after she was herself drugged, introduced a pilot programme this year allowing suspected victims to submit blood, urine or hair samples for toxicological testing without first filing a formal police complaint.
Toxicologist Prof Jean-Claude Alvarez, who runs the pilot at Raymond-Poincaré AP-HP Hospital, told reporters he had never seen diuretics used in this manner across 26 years of practice, noting that French labs have now expanded testing to include such substances. Victims have criticised the judicial delays as secondary victimisation, with de Vos telling BBC News she heard nothing from authorities for four years after her 2019 police interview despite repeated outreach. Sylvie Delezenne, another accuser featured in Guardian reporting, said the experience shattered her ambition to work at the culture ministry after she was forced to urinate in a Seine tunnel during a 2015 interview.
Kalliopi Mingeirou of UN Women stated that governments, police and courts face very serious challenges in tackling drug-facilitated sexual assault, adding that lengthy delays destroy women’s lives. The women’s rights organisation Fondation des Femmes, supporting around 30 of those affected, reported that Nègre continued working in human resources following his ministry dismissal. As of May 2026 prosecutors were still advancing the case, The New York Times reported, as additional women continued to come forward after recognising their experiences in media coverage of the inquiry.
