The former trainer accused of rape and sexual assault by former skater Sarah Abitbol, Gilles Beyer, conceded Friday January 31 to have had "intimate and" inappropriate "relations with her, saying" sincerely sorry "and apologizing to him in a written statement sent to AFP.
"I acknowledge having had intimate relationships with her. If my memories of their exact circumstances differ from hers, I am aware that, given my duties and her age at the time, these relationships were in any condition of inappropriate cause, "said Gilles Beyer, accused by Sarah Abitbol over a period from 1990 to 1992, when she was 15 to 17 years old, in particular.
Asked by AFP about the precise nature of these relationships, he declined to comment further.
"It is therefore a fault, of which I could not measure the harm it may have caused him (...) I am sincerely sorry and I apologize to Sarah Abitbol", adds the former champion of France of figure skating (1978), aged 62, in him "(wishing) to be able to find a peaceful life".
A testimony book
"Even if I understand it, I regret that she has not spoken to me during all these years since we have regularly crossed paths without at any time I can perceive the depth of her injuries", he adds however , not excluding "to express on (his) version of the facts".
In a book published on Thursday ("Un si long silence", Plon), Sarah Abitbol, European multi-medalist and world bronze medalist in couple in 2000, accuses her of having raped and sexually assaulted her between 1990 and 1992, the first time during a youth internship in La Roche-sur-Yon.
Sarah Abitbol and several other former high-level French skaters accused their trainer of rape and sexual assault between the late 1970s and 1990s in the daily L'Équipe and magazine L'Obs.
The courage of Sarah #Abitbol who broke the omerta by testifying to what she suffered at the age of 15. @MarleneSchiappa @RoxaMaracineanu pic.twitter.com/PE4ljzixwv
- L'Obs (@lobs) January 29, 2020Following these accusations, the Parisian club of flying Frenchmen dismissed Gilles Beyer from his duties as general manager.
This "sidelining of any function and activity" of "general delegate Gilles Beyer, with immediate effect and without time limit", "results from the serious accusations brought against him by a large number of media ", can we read in particular in an" internal press release ", published on the club's website.
"The club wishes to express to its members all its emotion and undertakes to deploy the utmost attention and energy to maintain the trust that practitioners, their families and have placed in it for many years in terms of "welcome and coaching," add the flying French, the figure skating and ice hockey club based in Bercy.
An unsuccessful judicial investigation
French skating champion in 1978, then director of the French teams and national coach in the 1980s and 1990s, Gilles Beyer appeared again on Thursday as "manager and technical advisor" on the club's website chaired by his brother, Alain Beyer.
In the early 2000s, on the basis of a report from parents, Gilles Beyer was the subject of a judicial inquiry which was unsuccessful, then of an administrative inquiry, which led the ministry to put an end to to its functions of sports technical adviser, that is to say agent of state attached to a federation, on March 31, 2001, confirmed the ministry to AFP.
Despite this sidelining, Gilles Beyer continued his career with flying Frenchmen and carried out several mandates at the executive office of the French Federation of Ice Sports (FFSG) until 2018.
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