On the Télématin plateau, on Saturday, November 27, the skater, Sarah Abitbol returned to her fight and her recovery after the rape she suffered.
“This book was really my last chance to be heard.” Guest of Telematin, on November 27, the skater Sarah Abitbol looked back on her journey and her revelations almost two years ago. In January 2020, L’Obs published an interview with the former figure skating champion on the occasion of the release of her book Un si long silence. In her book, Sarah Abitbol accused her former trainer, Gilles Beyer, of rape and touching and sexual harassment when she was between 15 and 17 years old. Aged 44 when she was able to speak, she did not file a complaint, because the facts were prescribed, although an investigation was opened by the Paris prosecutor’s office in February 2020.
Currently starring in the new Holiday on Ice show, the skater has not stopped fighting. Now, Sarah Abitbol is fighting against prescription, which has prevented her, like many victims, from prosecuting her attacker. “This is the fight of my life today”, explained the skater. “We, the victims, we live our whole life imprisoned, somewhere, because our attackers are outside”, a prison imposed by this law, according to Sarah Abitbol, who “Protects the aggressors and not the victims”. Aware of the difficulty of the fight, the former champion is lucid: “There is another problem, if this law passes, will it be retroactive?” she asked before adding “We don’t know that, but I am also fighting for others, for future victims”.
A word of reparation
Since speaking, the mother of young Stella has come a long way. “I have never been well in my life, I was in the anti-life and I felt like I couldn’t be happy, she explained at first, I progress every day, I take my car, now I go everywhere, I can go to a shopping center, which I didn’t do before. ” A therapeutic journey accompanied by his shrink, but above all helped by the liberation of his word. Thanks to her fight, she now hopes to serve as an example to other victims.
“Almost 600 or 700 athletes spoke after my testimony and more than 40 federations were unfortunately affected”, recalled the skater, “I didn’t realize that my testimony could snowball and save victims somewhere”. Even though she is aware that not everyone has “The chance to be known and to be able to write a book”, Sarah Abitbol calls on all victims to dare to speak out: “We must not remain silent, because that does not help. We have to talk, we get by, we live with it, we have after-effects but we feel better. ”
Article written in collaboration with 6medias
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