Sexual violence in skating: Gailhaguet asked for Beyer's reinstatement in 2011, according to Maracineanu - France 24

Paris (AFP)

French skating boss Didier Gailhaguet "asked the executive committee of the Federation (the) reintegration of (Gilles Beyer) in the supervision of junior teams" in 2011, said Sports Minister Roxana Maracineanu Wednesday.

Eleven years earlier, Beyer had been the subject of an administrative investigation, launched on the basis of reports from the parents of a young skater, who had concluded that he should no longer have "no youth coaching function" and had led the Ministry of Sports to terminate its functions as a state executive on March 31, 2001.

"He (Beyer) was removed from this national framework and then behind, ten years later, Mr. Gailhaguet, president of the French Federation of Ice Sports, asked the executive committee of the Federation for his reinstatement in the supervision of the teams. junior as + team leader + in contact with young children ", said the minister during a press point organized at the Ministry of Justice on the control of people in contact with minors.

Didier Gailhaguet had recognized earlier at a press conference an "error" in the presence of Beyer in the supervision of the French team at the 2011 World Junior Championships.

Beyer has been at the heart of the scandal of sexual violence that has shaken French skating for a week, accused of rape in particular by former champion Sarah Abitbol.

Described as "moralizing minister" and "draped in his certainties", Roxana Maracineanu replied: "I think he gives himself the right to judge me. I did not judge this person personally. (...) It is mainly in his role as president of this federation. "

The Minister has again called for the resignation of the boss since 1998 from French skating (with the exception of the period 2004-2007).

The request is "obviously shared by the whole government," government spokeswoman Sibeth N'Diaye said earlier in the Council of Ministers report on Wednesday.

Gailhaguet refuses for the time being to resign, awaiting the results of the inspection requested by Roxana Maracineanu on the federation before taking a decision.

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