• "The complaint was closed for insufficiently characterized offense", said the prosecutor of Saumur Alexandra Verron.

  • Jacques Ferrari's lawyer announces the filing of a complaint for slanderous denunciation.

  • The 33-year-old athlete had been suspended from his duties as coach and educator on behalf of the French Federation

The prosecution of Saumur (Maine-et-Loire) has closed a complaint for sexual assault on a minor targeting the world champion in equestrian aerobatics Jacques Ferrari, we learned Tuesday from corroborating sources.

"The complaint was closed for insufficiently characterized offense", said the prosecutor of Saumur Alexandra Verron.

The complaint was filed on December 31, 2018 in Haute-Savoie by the parents of a former pupil of Jacques Ferrari.

It was then sent to the Saumur prosecutor's office.

Heard again in June by investigators, the complainant "was less affirmative," said the magistrate.

“What she called sexual assault, after all, was not.

And minor corruption was not characterized, ”she added.

Slanderous denunciation

Jacques Ferrari, who had had a relationship with the complainant's older sister, has always denied having offered sex or made any such gestures to the younger sister. "The police heard the young girl again in June and she told them that she had gone too far in her statements and in her description of the facts," said Olivier Rolland, lawyer for Jacques Ferrari, who announced the filing of a complaint for slanderous denunciation.

European Champion in 2013 and World Champion in 2014, the 33-year-old athlete was suspended from his duties as coach and educator on behalf of the French Federation and within the Noroc team he had based, by decision of the prefect of Maine-et-Loire.

“He was suspended from everything, he lost everything for three years.

He had no income and today has nothing to do with the world of equestrian aerobatics, ”pointed out Me Rolland.

Appeals are underway before the administrative justice to obtain compensation for the damage suffered by Jacques Ferrari, according to the lawyer.

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Sexual violence: A world champion in equestrian aerobatics targeted by charges of sexual assault on a minor

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