Key points
- Boarding school abuse scandal sparks national outcry
- The alleged abuses span nearly five decades
- Include claims of physical violence, rape and sexual assault
ISLAMABAD: A major child abuse scandal has surfaced in France, with over 200 legal complaints filed against staff and priests at the prestigious Catholic boarding school, Notre-Dame de Bétharram.
The alleged abuses span nearly five decades, from 1957 to 2004, and include claims of physical violence, rape, and sexual assault.
Former pupils have described horrifying conditions and treatment at the school, located near Lourdes in the Pyrenees.
Pascal Gélie, now 51, recalled being subjected to beatings, psychological terror, and witnessing other children being seriously injured, according to the Guardian.
“It was absolute terror,” he said.
Allegations of rape
Ninety of the legal complaints involve allegations of sexual violence or rape. Two have resulted in charges against a former supervisor for the alleged sexual assault of a minor in 2004 and the alleged rape of another between 1991 and 1994.
He is currently in custody. Many other complaints were not prosecuted due to France’s statute of limitations. Survivors are now calling for legal reforms to remove time limits for reporting child abuse.
A French parliamentary inquiry has been underway for months and is expected to release a report this week with 50 recommendations to prevent violence in schools. Education Minister Élisabeth Borne described the scandal as a turning point, calling it a “#MeTooSchools moment.”
Politically sensitive
The case has also become politically sensitive. Former education minister and current Prime Minister François Bayrou, whose children attended the school, denied any cover-up after being questioned by the inquiry.
Survivors such as Boris, who was sexually assaulted on his 14th birthday by school principal Pierre Silviet-Carricart, described Bétharram as “a supermarket for sexual predators.”
Carricart was charged in 1997 following a police investigation.
The scandal is being called one of the worst in French educational history.
