Former French minister Tron on trial for rape

A French former government minister went on trial Tuesday accused of raping two former employees during foot-massaging sessions in his municipal office.

Georges Tron, a centre-right former deputy minister in charge of the civil service, was forced to resign in 2011 over the allegations made by two women who worked for him at the town hall of the southern Paris suburb of Draveil.

Tron, a 61-year-old former MP who is still mayor of Draveil, and his former deputy, Brigitte Gruel, also 61, are accused of abusing the women during foot reflexology sessions in Tron's office that quickly turned into threesomes.

Their accusers said they felt powerless to resist being groped and penetrated digitally because they were afraid of losing their jobs. Virginie Ettel, 41, later resigned, while Eva Loubrieu, 44, was fired after being accused of theft.

The two women both separately tried to commit suicide before filing police complaints against Tron and Gruel, according to Le Monde newspaper.

The two defendants deny the allegations, which emerged days after French former International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn was arrested in New York in May 2011 on charges of attempting to rape a hotel maid.

The criminal case against Strauss-Kahn later fell apart and he settled the civil case out of court but the affair had a knock-on effect in France, leading several women to break their silence about alleged harassment or assault by politicians and other public figures.

Tron's trial had been set to take place in December 2017, in the midst of a global outpouring of accounts of sexual assault and harassment triggered by the Harvey Weinstein affair in the US.

The case was however postponed after the presiding judge was overheard telling lawyers that he wished a woman was hearing the case. It is set to run until November 16 with a new judge, who is also male.