- Published
"I was really weak.
asserted
I → publish → ?
I couldn't really feel my legs any more," says Anaïs de Vos.
asserted
Vos → feel → legs
I didn't know what was happening."
It was July 2011 and Anaïs, who was then 27, was being interviewed for a job at France's Ministry of Culture in Paris.
She didn't usually drink coffee but when the interviewer, a senior civil servant called Christian Nègre, offered her one, she agreed out of politeness.
He made it himself, she tells BBC Global Women, but "it tasted bad… so I drank about half".
asserted
I → know → half
The meeting had started in the office, but after a few minutes Nègre suggested they go outside.
uncertain
they → start → minutes
As they strolled through Paris's streets, Anaïs began to feel an inexplicable and uncontrollable need to urinate.
asserted
Anaïs → stroll → need
She says she told him she needed to find a toilet urgently.
asserted
she → say → toilet
"He looked me right in the eye and said, 'Oh, do you need a wee?
asserted
you → look → wee
'
"I felt like a child.
asserted
I → feel → child
I thought it was really weird the way he looked at me, almost gleeful."
asserted
he → think → me
She says he directed her to the door of a storage cupboard under a bridge on the River Seine and said: "You can do it here."
asserted
You → say → it
Now, Anaïs is one of nearly 250 women who believe Nègre drugged them in alleged incidents between 2009 and 2018, subjecting them to what is known as chemical submission, where drugs are used to gain control over someone.
asserted
drugs → believe → someone
The concept of chemical submission came to prominence in France in 2024 when Gisele Pelicot's husband was found guilty of sedating her and inviting strangers to rape her while she was unconscious.
asserted
she → come → her
"I started to panic," Anaïs continues.
asserted
Anaïs → start → ?
"I had visions of him pushing me into the room and closing the door behind me."
asserted
him → have → me
Feeling it was "too strange", she insisted they move on.
asserted
they → feel → ?
They walked to the Louvre to use the toilets there, but they cost one euro and she had left her purse at the ministry's offices.
asserted
she → walk → offices
Nègre told her he didn't have any cash either.
asserted
he → tell → cash
Desperate and in pain from trying not to urinate, Anaïs found a cafe that let her use their toilet.
By then, "I felt really weak physically", she says.
asserted
she → try → toilet
As she approached the bathroom, she lost control and wet herself.
asserted
she → approach → herself
Thinking back to 2011, Anaïs gets some comfort from the fact that when she did urinate, it was out of Nègre's sight.
asserted
it → think → sight
"At least he didn't see me," she says.
asserted
she → see → me
"I was so grateful I was only wearing a dress," she adds, explaining it made it easier to disguise what had happened.
asserted
what → wear → dress
After three hours with Nègre, she says she "felt dizzy and drained".
asserted
she → say → Nègre
She didn't get the job and had suspicions about him, but could never work out exactly what it was that had made her feel so uncomfortable.
uncertain
her → get → him
Anaïs felt the incident damaged her self-confidence and in the years that followed, she ended up on a less ambitious career path.
asserted
she → feel → path
Then in 2019, she received a letter from the police.
asserted
she → receive → police
When she met them, she learned they suspected she was one of almost 200 women Nègre was accused of drugging during job interviews, purportedly for roles at the ministry.
asserted
Nègre → meet → ministry
"I was shocked," she says.
asserted
she → shock → ?
"But I was happy to know I wasn't crazy.
asserted
I → know → ?
Something had happened that day."
asserted
Something → happen → ?
Dozens more alleged victims have since emerged.
asserted
victims → allege → ?
Police believed Nègre had used diuretics, which are used to manage a number of medical conditions, including high blood pressure, and cause the body to produce excess urine.
asserted
body → believe → urine
Anaïs had had a fleeting thought the day she had met Nègre, that maybe he had slipped something into her drink, but put it aside telling herself: "It's the Ministry of Culture.
asserted
It → have → Culture
'Experiments P'
Anaïs says police told her they found a spreadsheet of the alleged victims on Nègre's computer, entitled Experiments P, which was how they found her.
asserted
they → say → her
The document, she says, noted the time the women arrived for their interviews, when the diuretic was administered, how long it took before they urinated, and what underwear they were wearing.
asserted
they → say → underwear
Looking back, Anaïs is now convinced the strange taste in the coffee Nègre made her was the diuretic.
asserted
Nègre → look → her
The investigation into Nègre began in June 2018, when he was caught by a colleague taking a photograph of a woman from beneath a table, the prosecutor's office said in a statement released in February this year.
asserted
office → begin → February
He was initially suspended from his job as regional director of cultural affairs before being sacked by the Ministry of Culture in 2019.
asserted
He → suspend → 2019
Prosecutors said that in 2018 he told investigators he had "imposed humiliating situations on women" during job interviews.
asserted
he → say → interviews
Many of the women say the first time they realised they may have been victims was when police contacted them.
uncertain
police → say → them
…and 45 more, not listed.
The Aporia
