Paris (AFP)

Former skating trainer Gilles Beyer, accused of sexual assault by several women, will be presented to an examining magistrate on Friday for a possible indictment after 48 hours in police custody, AFP learned on Friday from the Paris prosecutor's office.

The prosecution on Friday opened a judicial investigation of the counts of "sexual assault by person in authority and sexual harassment by person in authority" targeting Mr. Beyer.

His police custody began on Wednesday morning at the Juvenile Brigade in charge of the investigation and ended on Friday.

Mr. Beyer was to be brought before a judge for possible indictment.

Mr. Beyer is at the center of a scandal in the skating world after the accusations of repeated rape and sexual assault, between 1990 and 1992, of former skater Sarah Abitbol in the book "Un si long silence" (Plon ), published in early 2020.

The Paris public prosecutor's office had opened on February 4, 2020 a preliminary investigation for "rape and sexual assault on minors by person in authority".

A source familiar with the matter, however, told AFP that the charges of underage women at the time of the alleged facts, including those of Ms. Abitbol, ​​were time-barred.

According to this source, only more recent charges, brought by adult women at the time of the facts, are not time-barred and could be prosecuted.

In a written statement to AFP, Mr. Beyer had admitted "intimate relations" and "inappropriate" with Sarah Abitbol, ​​presenting her "apologies".

Contacted on Friday, his lawyer, Me Thibault de Montbrial, did not wish to react.

These revelations had created a real explosion in the world of sport and in particular in that of skating.

The president for more than twenty years of the French Ice Sports Federation (FFSG), Didier Gailhaguet, had been forced to resign from his post in early February, under pressure from the Minister of Sports, Roxana Maracineanu.

The Paris public prosecutor's office also opened at the beginning of September a new separate investigation following a damning report from the General Inspectorate of the Ministry of Sports, highlighting the suspicions weighing on 21 FFSG coaches, 12 of whom were blamed for " acts of harassment or sexual assault ".

© 2021 AFP