A skating competition, February 1, 2020 in Rouen (photo illustration). - Maxime Le Pihif / SIPA

The Ministry of Sports announced Tuesday that the General Inspectorate had taken legal action at the end of its mission to investigate the facts of violence in the world of figure skating, which highlighted suspicions weighing on about twenty coaches .

A report sent to justice

Among these 21 coaches, 12 would be implicated for "acts of harassment or sexual assault", of which three were sentenced in the past to firm terms of imprisonment or with suspended sentences. Seven other cases concern “physical or verbal violence”.

The Ministry of Sports announced that the General Inspectorate had taken legal action at the end of its mission to investigate the facts of violence in the world of figure skating, which highlighted the suspicions weighing on about twenty coaches # AFP pic.twitter.com/UtRgwKbVwd

- Agence France-Presse (@afpfr) August 4, 2020

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, “as the facts likely to be classified as criminal having been identified by the mission, the head of IIGESR informed the ministers that she was sending the report to the public prosecutor in accordance with the article 40 of the code of criminal procedure ”, indicated the Ministry of Sports.

"Unparalleled behavior internationally"

“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.

At the federation, Nathalie Péchalat discovers "corpses" every week https://t.co/FSkEStodxo

- The HuffPost (@LeHuffPost) July 28, 2020

“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 ”

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  • Sexual violence
  • Sport
  • Sexual assault
  • Skating