French envoy faces probe for alleged 'stealthing' during sex

Paris prosecutors are investigating a French ambassador for allegedly not using a condom as requested during consensual sex, a practice known as "stealthing", a source close to the inquiry said Tuesday.

The woman, 30, told police she had spent part of the night at the home of the 44-year-old envoy she met through a dating site.

"They had met up several times without any sexual relations. That evening, they had consensual sex," the source said, confirming a report in French magazine Le Point.

"She asked him to use a condom but realised during the act that the man was not wearing one," the source added.

The woman filed her complaint three days later.

The source did not identify the envoy by name, while Le Point said only that he is based in the Middle East.

French law defines rape as "any sexual penetration... committed against another through violence, force, threat or surprise."

But no clear jurisprudence exists for "stealthing", which is when a man removes a condom while having sex with a partner who requested he wear one, potentially exposing him or her to HIV or other sexually transmitted diseases.

A woman also risks being impregnated.

In January 2017, a court in Lausanne, Switzerland, handed a Frenchman a suspended 12-month prison sentence after convicting him of "rape" for removing his condom without telling his partner.

A few months later, the sentence was upheld on appeal, but the court lowered the charge to "a sexual act committed against a person unable to discern or resist it."