A psychiatrist working in Reims and Saint-Quentin was indicted for sexual violence on April 1. Several patients report inappropriate behavior and comments. One of them recounts a therapeutic relationship marked by deep unease.
In Reims (Marne), Doctor Brahim Kharij, who also practiced in Saint-Quentin (Aisne), was indicted for rape, assault and sexual harassment on April 1, and placed in pre-trial detention. Revealed by France 3 Champagne-Ardenne, this therapist’s custody allowed him to be confronted with the testimonies of several dozen alleged victims. Alice (who did not wish to reveal her name) is one of them. What this young woman says is like a nightmare.
The story begins in 2024. Alice, 24, is treated for three months for bipolar disorder by doctor Brahim Kharij. “I went to see him four or five times“, she remembers when we meet her at her home, in the Ardennes, on April 1. Very quickly, the latter adopts behavior “bizarre“with regard to him.”He tried to find out about my sex life” and in particular the frequency of her intimate relations with her boyfriend at the time.
From these consultations, Alice only remembers inappropriate words and a lot of proximity. “There were two sofas in the study, one opposite the other. Each time, he did not stay in his place – at his desk. He stood next to me. Really close…“, she remembers, still uncomfortable. “I came to get treatment, and in the end, I ran into someone weird.“
To succeed in his therapy, Doctor Kharij prescribed olanzapine, then lormetazepam, alprazolam (the molecule found in Xanax) “and in the morning, paroxetine“. Substances classified as benzodiazepines and antidepressants which can have the side effect of increasing the appetite.”I got up at night to go eat, I was hungry all the time. I gained 25 kilos very quickly“, confides the young woman.
This phenomenon makes him prick up his ears. “I told him that I had gained a lot of weight, that it wasn’t going well (…) He asked me if the fact that I had gained weight bothered my boyfriend at the time. Then one day, the doctor made the remark to him too often: “He told me he would like his wife to have thighs like mine.“From then on, Alice stopped going to see him.”It was too inappropriate, I felt bad. Towards me first, but also towards his wife who asked for nothing.“
He wanted to know my private life […] and the amount of sex I had with my ex boyfriend
AliceAlleged victim of doctor Brahim Kharij
Subsequently, Alice consults the opinions left for this psychiatrist on the internet. “I immediately understood that it wasn’t working.“Heard by the police, one of the investigators confirmed this modus operandi: giving drugs that make his patients gain weight.”The main victims of this abuse are strong people, who were fit or who have gained weight.“, reports the young woman from her interview with the police.
After talking to those close to her, Alice changes psychiatrists. “Initially, I did not realize that I had been a victim of these actions. When the police called me and I knew they were talking about Dr. Kharij, I immediately understood that I was not the only one and that he was strange to everyone.“
Alice is also convinced of this: if there was no touching or physical aggression during these consultations, there would have been some if she had continued to see him. “There would have been a big risk that he would act out.“The young woman, who works as a carer, has not yet filed a complaint,”although she would have done it without worry if necessary“. “I hope he goes to prison. On the day of his trial, I’ll be sitting in the front row“, she concludes.
At this stage, Brahim Kharij is presumed innocent and the investigations, already considerable, will be long. “Given the nature of the facts denounced and a possible recurrence of these, all of the doctor’s female patients” was contacted, writes François Schneider, the Reims prosecutor, in a press release released on April 1. That’s 665 people. “A majority of the testimonies” evoked “facts of a sexual nature of all kinds” : “advances”, “unconsensual caresses on the back and thighs”, For example. Others have reported “a sexualized speech with perfectly inappropriate compliments on their physique, asking them many questions about their sexuality.”
