Nearly 180 people implicated in four French sports federations. Here is what detailed, Wednesday, July 1, the Minister of Sports Roxana Maracineanu about the alleged cases of sexual violence in sport, several months after a wave of revelations of sexual assault in this environment.

These cases mainly affect (98%) victims who were minors at the time of the crime, and 78% of whom are women, the minister said during a press briefing.

Nearly 90 legal proceedings are underway concerning these cases, and 16 people are currently incarcerated, said Roxana Maracineanu, drawing up an initial assessment four months after launching last February a national convention for the prevention of sexual violence in sport.

>> To read: Sexual assaults in the sports world: end of the omerta?

At the time, the minister admitted that at the sports ministry "we did not measure the scale, the severity and the number of cases".

"Major malfunctions"

In December 2019, a survey carried out by the Disclose information website in partnership with other media had revealed "major dysfunctions" in the treatment of alleged cases of pedophilia in sport.

A few weeks later, the release of the book by former skater Sarah Abitbol ("Un si long silence", Éd. Plon) accusing her ex-trainer Gilles Beyer of having raped her had signaled the start of a wave of revelations sexual assault in French sport. These revelations had also highlighted numerous dysfunctions within clubs, federations, justice and state services.

These scandals led to the resignations of the president of the French Federation of Ice Sports (FFSG), Didier Gailhaguet, and the president of the French Federation of Roller Skating and Skateboarding (FFRS), Nicolas Belloir, both accused of their management cases of sexual violence in their sport.

With AFP

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