Research at the expense of ambassador of Lebanon in the Paris for rape and violence conducted by the French authorities, after complaints two former embassy employeesas it became known from sources close to the case, who confirmed an information from the Mediapart news site.

The first woman, aged 31, filed a lawsuit in August 2022 for rape that took place, according to her statement to police, in May 2020 inside the private apartment of Ambassador Rami Antoine. In her lawsuit, which was obtained by AFP, she claims that she told him that she did not want to have sexual intercourse with him, that she was shouting and crying. In 2020, she had reported to the police that Antoine hit her when they had a confrontation in his office but then she did not sue him “so as not to ruin his life”. She also admitted that she maintained a “romantic relationship” with him but he subjected her to “psychological and physical violence, with daily humiliations”. Rami Antoine has served as Lebanon’s ambassador to France since 2017, is married and a father.

The second woman, 28, had an affair with the Lebanese diplomat shortly after she started working as a trainee at the embassy in 2018. She filed a lawsuit last February, alleging he assaulted her, usually when she refused to have sex with him. She claims, among other things, that Rami Antoine tried to run her over with his car when they argued on the sidelines of the Peace Forum in Cannes, eastern France, last September, and that he tried to suffocate her by pressing her head against the mattress of his bed , at the end of December.

“My client disputes all charges of abuse of any kind: verbal, moral, sexual. Between 2018-22 he had an affair with these women, which was accompanied by fights and ruptures,” said the diplomat’s lawyer, Karim Beilouni.

Asked what the authorities will do next given that Antoine has diplomatic immunity, the Paris prosecutor’s office said it was “not in a position to answer at this time.”

“We have no information about this case, which has been prosecuted,” the Foreign Ministry commented, reminding that the investigation is confidential.