The Tarbes prosecutor's office (Hautes-Pyrénées) has opened an investigation for "sexual assault" against Jean Gachassin, the former president of the French Tennis Federation, now 80 years old.
The procedure follows a complaint filed on Saturday June 18 by a young woman.
“The evening before, at the casino of Bagnères-de-Bigorre, she accuses him of having kissed her on the mouth, against her will”, indicated to AFP Pierre Aurignac, the public prosecutor of Tarbes, confirming information from the newspaper
L'Equipe
.
However, "kissing someone against their will, legally, this qualifies as sexual assault", specifies the magistrate.
Witnesses of the evening heard by the gendarmes
Jean Gachassin, adds the prosecutor, “has not yet been heard, we hear the witnesses first.
We then proceed to a psychiatric expertise for the author, psychological for the victim, as is the practice in this type of case”.
The investigation was entrusted to the gendarmes of the research brigade of Bagnères-de-Bigorre, in the Hautes-Pyrénées.
They began to hear witnesses to the alleged facts, which occurred during a seminar of the Occitanie Rugby League.
Former player of Lourdes and of the French rugby team, Jean Gachassin was president of the French Tennis Federation from 2009 to 2017.
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