Violence in skating: about twenty coaches questioned, justice seized

Among the 21 coaches suspected of violence, 12 are allegedly accused of "acts of harassment or sexual assault", of which three were sentenced in the past to firm or suspended prison terms. Seven other cases concern “physical or verbal violence”. Following the revelations of the former skater Sarah Abitbol in her book "Un si long silence" (Plon) published at the end of January 2020, in which she accuses her former trainer Gilles Beyer of having raped and sexually assaulted her several times between 1990 and 1992, the Ministry of Sports had carried out an investigation with the General Inspectorate of Education, Sport and Research (IGESR).

At the end of this fact-finding mission, "since the facts likely to receive a criminal qualification having been noted by the mission, the head of the IIGESR informed the ministers that she was sending the report to the public prosecutor at the judicial tribunal. of Paris in accordance with article 40 of the code of criminal procedure ”, indicated the Ministry of Sports. “The volume of business thus identified is indicative of practices and behaviors reproduced, which have passed through generations of coaches in the main disciplines of the FFSG, which are figure skating and ice dancing. It is unparalleled internationally, ”said the ministry in its press release.

The fact-finding mission scratches federal operations

“These various cases have already given rise to two reports to the public prosecutor under article 40 of the code of criminal procedure (February 2020), to the provisional detention of a trainer (February 2020) and five administrative prohibition measures (April 2020), ”said the ministry. The fact-finding mission scratches the federal functioning marked by "a strong concentration of powers really involving very few leaders and technical executives", which could only "promote a form of omerta on the suspicions that weighed with regard to coaches and may have led to the absence of disciplinary proceedings, or even simple investigations ”.

Following the revelations of Sarah Abitbol, ​​the president for more than 20 years of the French Ice Sports Federation Didier Gailhaguet was forced to resign from his post in early February. Nathalie Péchalat, elected in mid-March at the head of the FFSG, was not the recipient of the report, which was given to Didier Gailhaguet. Gilles Beyer is still the subject of an investigation by the Paris prosecutor's office, in particular for “rapes”.

The FFSG had since been under the threat of the withdrawal of the ministry's delegation, an absolute weapon which was not recommended by the inspectors general in their report. A second part of the IGÉSR fact-finding mission "will relate in particular, within the framework of the requested control, to the conditions under which the sports technical advisers of the ministry in charge of sports placed with the federation have exercised their functions".

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