A deputy mayor in the French capital of Paris has stepped down after protesters demanded his resignation over his ties to a writer accused of raping underage girls.
Christophe Girard, who was in charge of cultural affairs for the Paris government, is accused of continuing a friendship with writer Gabriel Matzneff, a French author who publicly advocated for pedophilia over the course of three decades and whose speech was seen to be protected by the elite members of the French media and political apparatus.
“He cannot be deputy for culture to the mayor of Paris with what happened before,” Alice Coffin, a Parisian City Council member, said while protesting outside the Paris City Hall on Thursday. “How do you expect him to be credible?”
The 64-year-old mayor who served in the deputy role for over a decade said he refused to “justify [himself] permanently for something that does not exist” while criticizing attempts to “ruin” his life. Girard, who has been the cultural affairs deputy for the city since 2002, downplayed his ties to Matzneff.
“Yes, it’s a friendly relationship, since it’s someone I have a coffee with, at a bookstore, at a restaurant with other people,” Girard said. “But it’s not a personal relationship.”
But protesters suggest Girard’s links to Matzneff ran much deeper than the cultural affairs deputy would like to admit. Activists point out that Girard helped secure residence for Matzneff while he recovered from eye surgery and that Matzneff participated in an underage sexual relationship with then-14-year-old Vanessa Springora.
Springora, now a leading publishing director, wrote a scathing account of her relationship with Matzneff in December 2019, claiming the man groomed her. The essay has prompted French officials to reexamine some of its recent hires. Matzneff, who was charged in a Parisian court in February with promoting the abuse of children, is set to stand trial next year. He is also the subject of a rape investigation looking into the teenage girls he wrote about in his books.
Earlier this month, critics ripped President Emmanuel Macron for promoting two ministers with unsavory backgrounds, drawing ire from protesters, including Coffin, who said the appointments of such people have led to “oppression of women” throughout the country.
“They do not understand that it is not possible to appoint personalities whose behavior contributes to the oppression of women in France,” Coffin said.
