Sports | Marseille: the technical director of the Pôle France referred to justice for moral harassment
A gymnastics coach, technical director of the Pôle France de Marseille, a high-level structure, will be tried in October for acts of “moral harassment” denounced by five young girls, the Marseille prosecutor’s office told AFP on Wednesday.
The presumed victims accused of Vincent Pateau, according to the newspaper L’Equipe which revealed the information on Tuesday, humiliating remarks and “abuse“According to the words of some parents of the young girls concerned in daily sports, one of them denouncing”a real danger“.
Following a preliminary investigation, the Marseille public prosecutor’s office ordered Mr. Pateau’s referral to the criminal court on April 7. The hearing was eventually adjourned to October 13, the prosecution said, adding that “as this is a preliminary investigation, it is not possible to know at this stage whether they (the young girls and their families) are civil parties to the hearing“.
The prosecution also informed AFP that a separate hearing will be held the same day concerning another Pole coach, Pierre Ettel, for acts of moral harassment of a 15-year-old minor, concerning a single gymnast. No comment could be immediately obtained from the French Gymnastics Federation.
Cases of abuse have shaken world gymnastics for several months, to the point that the International Federation adopted a new code of conduct in June to protect gymnasts against abusive practices.
In France, another female gymnastics training structure similar to that of Marseille, the Pôle France de Saint-Etienne, was recently at the heart of an investigation into rapes and sexual assaults committed in the 1980s and 90s. Due to the suspect’s advanced age, 80, and his state of health, the investigation was closed.