Overview
- Jean-Michel Aulas announced on Friday that he would step back from governing the Cœur Lyonnais municipal group to preserve the group's unity after media reports of the complaint.
- A formal complaint filed in May alleges the assault occurred in January in a hotel room and says the plaintiff told Aulas and close associates about the episode in February.
- The campaign communications director named in reporting contests the accusation through his lawyer and there has been no judicial determination; the case remains under development.
- Several municipal councillors have left Cœur Lyonnais, including the LR mayor of the 2nd arrondissement and Horizons members Emmanuel Hamelin, Samuel Soulier and Nina Bouffet, who said they could not continue to sit with the group.
- On Saturday the Métropole de Lyon president temporarily withdrew delegations from Aulas and two other local elected officials, a move that narrows Aulas’s institutional role as the legal and political fallout continues.