One of the first phrases that ex-corporal Alex Held learned when he joined the French Foreign Legion in 2015 was “pas vu, pas pris”, which can be loosely translated as 'if you don't get seen, you won't get caught'. Unfortunately for the young American soldier, this old saying came back to haunt him when he made a formal complaint to his superiors that his immediate boss, warrant officer Antal A., had repeatedly tried to touch and kiss him in 2018 and 2019.
Enlargement : Illustration 1
It is rare for legionnaires from this close-knit French army force, which is made up of 9,000 men drawn from 140 different nationalities, to talk about sexual violence within its ranks. But 30-year-old Alex Held wants to break the taboo of silence on the issue. When questioned by Mediapart, senior officers at the French Foreign Legion acknowledged that “completely inappropriate behaviour” had taken place and said three people – including the person accused of the assaults – had been disciplined.
“The atmosphere there empowers anyone with the slightest authority to do what they want as they won't be caught,” said Held. For a long time he had hesitated about coming forward, worried that the Foreign Legion might influence his ability to get a residence permit - something he finally received in March 2020. Legionnaires are entitled to apply for French citizenship after serving for three years.
Alex Held's lawyer, Élodie Maumont, who specialises in military law, confirms how unusual it is for someone to speak out in this way. “It's extremely hard for these soldiers to report sexual violence,” she said. “The Legion is the height of virility, with a particularly strong policy of denial.”
The American joined the Legion in 2015 and says that he was subjected to inappropriate actions, and also sidelined, in 2018. This was at Montpellier in the south of France when he and fellow soldiers were part of France's anti-terrorism security operation known as Operation Sentinelle. Though Alex Held had been trained as a radio operator he was appointed as 'clubman' by his superior in the 13th Demi-Brigade of Foreign Legion (13th DBLE), warrant officer Antal A. This meant the soldier had to work behind the bar at the base and ensure it looked smart. “Tasks that had nothing to do with my role,” said Held.
At the bar one evening in September 2018 the warrant officer “asked me to come towards him, he took me in his arms and squeezed me tightly, I was shocked, I didn't know what to do, he tried to kiss me on the mouth, I turned my head and he succeeded in kissing me on the left cheek and on the neck … then he touched by bottom with his hands. He let me go and I left,” Alex Held said in his official complaint lodged at a police station in Marseille on December 4th 2019, and which Mediapart has seen.
In that same month, September 2018, Alex Held recalled a similar episode in the bar but this time in front of witnesses, including a captain and a lieutenant. None of the witnesses responded to a request for a comment. Held said that the warrant officer “took me in his arms squeezing me against him and kissing me on the neck and cheeks while I turned my head to avoid him kissing me on the lips. No one did anything. Captain R. said 'no, warrant officer' before turning away and keeping quiet.”
Alex Held made this last statement in his official letter to the Thémis cell on December 18th 2019. This internal military initiative tackling sexual violence was set up by France's Ministry of Defence in 2014 following the publication of the book La Guerre Invisible : Révélations sur les Violences Sexuelles dans l’Armée Française by Leïla Miñano and Julia Pascual about sexual violence in the armed forces.
In that same letter Alex Held, himself a corporal, said that he also witnessed similar events involving another corporal, a reservist in the Legion called up for Operation Sentinelle, in the bar one night. “The warrant officer grabbed him in his arms and tried to kiss him,” he wrote. Mediapart has not been able to contact this reservist.
On another evening in September 2018 warrant officer A. told Alex Held that he could close the bar. Once Held was in his bedroom on the first floor “someone turned the handle of my door and tried to push it, I'd locked it,” the soldier said in his official complaint.
The next day the American “reported” this verbally to a lieutenant and a sergeant. “The two claimed that it was a bad joke”, he said. Neither of them responded to Mediapart's request for a comment.
In his statement the American described other events that took place between October 2018 and the spring of 2019. “During eight months … the warrant officer often said that I was rubbish … afterwards he changed his mind and told me he was proud of me,” wrote Alex Held. The soldier told Thémis that this repeated behaviour on the part of the warrant officer triggered a “major depressive episode” in him.
On March 14th 2019 Alex Held was at the 13th DBLE's national headquarters at Camp Larzac in the Aveyron département or county in southern France. In the evening the warrant officer called the corporals to a meeting in the bar. “I tried to keep my distance from him but he asked me to come to him, once again he … squeezed me in his arms, kissing me and gave my bottom a slap,” said Alex Held in his complaint. Once again he gave Thémis a list of several witnesses. Eight out of the ten were contacted and none wanted to comment.
Mediapart also approached warrant officer A. who declined to comment. Contacted on the phone he said: “You can ask your questions elsewhere, in any case I don't have the authorisation to say anything, so there you go.”
On May 20th 2019 Alex Held went to see a psychiatrist who signed him off on sick leave. “He told me I was a danger to myself and others,” said the American corporal.
It was only at this point that his partner, Marie, understood the scale of the problem. “Alex had panic attacks from the start of 2019,” she told Mediapart. “Before the hospitalisation I put it down to the fact that he wasn't being used to his true worth in his job … he had mentioned that his boss really liked his physique, but it was when this person asked him to come back during the holidays in May that I saw him rigid with anger in the car. I started to feel afraid for him,” she said.
Alex Held was hospitalised on May 27th 2019. The next day a legionnaire phoned him and asked him to call a warrant officer and a major who wanted to “report higher up”. He did so from his hospital room. “I reported some assaults to the major. He asked me if I had made a complaint. I told him no. He asked me if I wanted to speak with the OPSR [editor's note, the regimental protection and safety officer]. I asked him if he was able to him me in this case. He told me no,” Alex Held told Thémis. Neither the major nor the warrant officer responded to Mediapart's request fro a comment.
Alex Held left hospital on August 8th 2019. On the morning of September 26th he went to the military medical unit for a mandatory medical check. A document from the military hospital stamped 'confidential' gives details from the medical report: Alex Held “describes attempts at sexual assault … he presented the typical progression of victims of assault and harassment. He told me he now wants to finish with the Legion, for two reasons: recurrence of post-traumatic anxiety symptoms this morning at the company [editor's note, in other words the 13th DBLE] and a loss of confidence in the institution.”
Today Alex Held says: “I chose to be discharged to escape from this code of silence, from this warrant officer's harmful machinations.” He adds: “Yet I was proud to be a legionnaire.”
'The top brass saw what was happening'
A former colleague of Alex Held has spoken, anonymously, about a fear of reprisals against anyone speaking out about sexual violence in the 13th DBLE. “The most serious thing is that the top brass saw what was happening,” said the legionnaire. “Everyone knew, the senior officers did nothing, yet the head of military safety had lots of personnel complaining about this warrant officer. It's shameful. If Alex had not given evidence how long could this [warrant officer] have carried on undisturbed? It's sickening .. this guy has wrecked careers, he's made youngsters leave. But the guilty ones are the senior ranks who let it happen.”
Two WhatsApp conversations between Alex Held and former colleagues in the 13th DBLE demonstarte the state of fear that exists there. In July 2019 the American told one of them: “I finally want to make a complaint against A.” His former colleague replied: “He hates me and hits me over this story … 1Cie [editor's note, the 1st Company of the 13th DBLE] disgusts me, I just think I've wasted my life here. Anyway, you should know that you've got my support.”
In December 2019 Alex Held wrote to a legionnaire who had been a witness to events earlier in the year. “I've finally made a complaint … the police will carry out an investigation.” His former colleague replied: “It's been a long case but you've done well to tell it all because what they're doing is inappropriate.” Then, a week later, the former colleague wrote on WhatsApp: “There's too much pressure, I can't bear it any more, I'm getting it in the neck from the [warrant officer] over all these stories.”
In his letter to Thémis Alex Held said: “Several people told me that they spoke … to confirm the acts committed by warrant officer A. Afterwards they told me they were ordered to keep quiet.”
This apparent attempt to suppress matters does not surprise Alex Held's lawyer, Élodie Maumont. She said: “In the Army you wash your dirty linen in private. It's obvious there are pressures put on witnesses. Sometimes in the Legion they are worried about whether their contract might be renewed. And at the end of their service a legionnaire has a right to a certificate of good conduct, which can carry weight in getting a residence permit.”
Enlargement : Illustration 2
On April 29th 2020 Alex Held was given a glimmer of hope that the whole affair would not remain swept under the carpet when he received a response from Thémis about their “investigations”. They told him: “The responsibility of some individuals, including the person who carried out the acts, have been established and disciplinary procedures are currently under way.” But the American said: “By talking about the 'responsibility' of 'individuals' the Legion is trying to evade any consequences for their corrupt system. I'm very fearful that the people who tried to suppress the affair will escape.”
A spokesperson for the Legion's command told Mediapart: “This legionnaire was the target of completely inappropriate gestures. It is unacceptable and scandalous on the part of a non-commissioned officer. The facts have been corroborated. And we have noted a certain negligence by two [personnel] who should have alerted the command.” They were punished for a “failure in monitoring”.
The Legion said that the warrant officer himself had received a “heavy disciplinary punishment” and was confined to barracks for a period. But other than saying it was “before the summer” it did not specify when the punishment was carried out, how many days he was confined to barracks and where he was transferred to. These sanctions are also in the lowest category of punishments in the military Defence Code.
When questioned over the fact that the warrant officer concerned would still be eligible for future promotions, the Legion spokesperson said: “With the number of days [confined to barrack] that he has received he has little chance of being on the promotion list.” However, there is no guarantee of this. Only a punishment from the more severe second category of sanctions would have ensured he got no promotion.
Meanwhile Alex Held continues to consult a psychiatrist. “I still take antidepressants, otherwise dark thoughts come back. All this has had an impact on my mental health,” he said. He has now signed up for a university course in computers for the next academic year, a world far removed from the Legion.
-------------------------
If you have information of public interest you would like to pass on to Mediapart for investigation you can contact us at this email address: enquete@mediapart.fr. If you wish to send us documents for our scrutiny via our highly secure platform please go to https://www.frenchleaks.fr/ which is presented in both English and French.
-------------------------
- The French version of this article can be found here.
English version by Michael Streeter