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Former priest Bernard Preynat at the Lyon court, January 13, 2019. REUTERS / Emmanuel Foudrot

The trial of former priest Bernard Preynat for pedophile attacks committed between 1971 and 1991 opened this Tuesday, January 14 in Lyon.

There are seven at the moment. All are former scouts from Father Preynat parish in Sainte-Foy-Lès-Lyon. They came with their personal stories to court. Adult lives cut off from their youth. Proof of the difficulty of telling what they suffered, one of the victims asked to testify behind closed doors, reports our special envoy to Lyon, Pierre Olivier .

“ I come to a time when I can no longer run away. I have to spread my suffering and my prejudice and I am very uncomfortable with that, it is an exercise that is very difficult for me. And once again, I am a boy who was very lucky ”, will explain at the exit of the audience François Devaux, victim of the former priest and founder of the association La Parole libéré.

Others recount their suicidal thoughts, their insomnia, their mental disorders after the sexual assaults of Father Preynat. Now 74 years old, he is appearing for acts committed between 1971 and 1991 when the victims were between 7 and 15 years old.

While Vicar-Chaplain Scout, Bernard Preynat at the time was admired by the parents of the diocese who entrusted their children to him, in his parish or during camps abroad. It was not until 2015 that several former scouts broke the omerta and accused Preynat in court of touching, kissing on the mouth and forced reciprocal caresses, especially on sex.

Faced with his victims who succeed one another at the helm on Tuesday, Bernard Preynat admits his mistakes and even asks for forgiveness. But he also often denies, especially the frequency of his touching. One of the victims ensures that the priest would have renewed them fifty times, which he refuses to admit. " I want to go to ten, but not fifty. The prosecutor stands up and reminds him that only once can send him to ten years in prison.

Bernard Preynat claims that he did not realize at the time the gravity of his actions. " I had the feeling that the children were almost accomplices, " he says. " Like all pedophiles, " retorts the prosecutor.

One of the victims appeared in court with her scout scarf. By removing it from his neck, he launched: " Today, I am free from that ". Before asking the former priest to have the decency not to appeal the court's decision when the trial is over. This Wednesday, three former scouts will in turn be heard.