Nearly 250 women say a senior French civil servant drugged them during job interviews, causing some to lose control of their bodies. Years later, many are still waiting for the case to reach court.
For Anaïs de Vos, the interview was supposed to be the start of a career at France’s Ministry of Culture.
Instead, she says it became an experience she would spend years trying to understand.
Anaïs de Vos was 27 when she interviewed with Christian Nègre in 2011. He made the coffee himself. It tasted bad, but she drank it.
Soon, her legs went numb. “I was really weak. I couldn’t really feel my legs anymore,” she said. “I was scared.”
She felt a painful need to urinate. She wondered if he drugged her, but pushed it away. “It’s the Ministry of Culture. It’s not possible,” she thought.
It was possible.
Police later told her Nègre was accused of drugging nearly 250 women. The worst part was his computer. Investigators found a spreadsheet titled “Experiments P”. He logged arrival times, when he gave the diuretic, how long it took to work, and what underwear the women wore.
Marie-Hélène Brice was another victim. During a 2016 interview, Nègre suggested a walk by a canal. The drug hit her hard.
“I was really starting to suffer… pains to the point that I was white, pale, I had tears streaming down,” she said.
She had to urinate in public. Nègre offered his jacket to shield her. “He didn’t take his eyes off me,” she said.
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He was finally caught in 2018 when a colleague saw him taking photos under a table. He admitted to imposing “humiliating situations.”
Today, Nègre is fired and awaiting trial. The courts are moving slowly. For the women who trusted him, the wait for justice feels like just another long experiment.
