The General Inspectorate of Education, Sport and Research (IGESR), transmitted certain cases noted in its report to the public prosecutor of the Paris judicial tribunal.
An investigation by the General Inspectorate of Education, Sport and Research (IGESR) reports "more than twenty coaches " ice dance "would be implicated" in cases of sexual, physical or verbal violence in the skating environment. ”Information relayed by the France-Presse agency.
Hearings made within the framework of this report and reports on the "signal-sports" platform have brought to light suspicions on 21 coaches. In these, twelve would be implicated for "acts of harassment or sexual assault", three of whom have been sentenced in the past to either firm or suspended prison terms. And seven other cases concern "physical or verbal violence".
There would have already been two reports to the public prosecutor, going to the placement in pre-trial detention of a trainer last February, and five administrative measures of prohibition to exercise in April, explains the press release. Administrative investigations which had been stopped during confinement have been relaunched. IGESR also noticed "a real alcohol problem" for some of the coaches.
"The volume of business thus identified is indicative of reproduced practices and behaviors, which have passed through generations of coaches in the main disciplines of the FFSG, which are figure skating and ice dance. It is unparalleled internationally" , the ministry said in its press release. "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) ", he adds.
For the investigators, the federal functioning of the French Federation of Ice Sports (FFSG) has "favored a form of omerta on the suspicions that weighed on coaches and may have led to the absence of disciplinary proceedings, or even simple investigations, into acts of violence denounced by victims". And the volume of business is "unrivaled internationally".
According to L'Equipe, the inspectors general also recommend "to draw up its own code of ethics and professional conduct, to submit affiliated clubs to an obligation to inform the Federation in the event of acts of violence committed by managers or coaches, to better supervise the accommodation of underage skaters outside of at home by a charter defining its terms. ".
Another part of the IGESR 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 responsible for sports placed with the federation have exercised their functions", notes AFP.
The kick in the anthill made by the revelations of Sarah Abitbol resulted in the resignation of Didier Gailhaguet, president of the French Federation of ice sports (for more than 20 years), in early February. Since March 14, Nathalie Péchalat has been at the head of the FFSG.
On franceinfo, Tuesday August 4, Didier Gailhaguet wanted to defend himself and he launched: "I am amazed at the unprecedented treatment that has been reserved for me. It's a real manhunt that began in February, in which Minister Roxana Maracineanu named a culprit. " The man was suspected of having ignored the actions of three coaches accused of rape and sexual assault by former skaters.