PARIS — A political storm over allegations of physical, emotional and sexual abuse at a Catholic school near François Bayrou’s hometown has taken a personal turn for the prime minister after his daughter revealed that she had been a victim of physical violence at the institution.
Hélène Perlant, the eldest of Bayrou’s six children, told the French weekly Paris Match that she was among the hundreds of victims who have come forward to share stories of abuse at the Notre-Dame de Bétharram school. Several former students — including one who has pressed charges — alleged that Bayrou knew about the abuse at the school yet failed to act, igniting a scandal that has threatened his premiership.
Perlant said in 1987, she was “grabbed by the hair, dragged along the ground for several meters, and pummeled and kicked all over [her] body, especially in the stomach” by a priest working at Bétharram, which she attended along with some of Bayrou’s other children and where her mother taught religious education. The acts of violence, she said, left her “full of bruises” and with “severe tinnitus.”
Two people close to Bayrou, who were granted anonymity to discuss a sensitive issue, described the prime minister as being in a state of “intense emotion” and “shock” after learning about the incident. Perlant, now 53, did not tell her father about the abuse until shortly before the Paris Match story was published, according to one of them.
Perlant’s revelation comes ahead of the release of a book this Thursday about the violence that took place at Bétharram. The book was authored by Alain Esquerre, himself a former student and victim of abuse, who set up a victims’ group that has led to 200 charges being pressed. Perlant shares her experience in the book as well.
Incidents of violence at Bétharram were first made public in 1996, when a pupil’s father pressed charges after his son was hit and subjected to degrading punishments at school. Bayrou was education minister at the time and one of his sons was in the victim’s class.
In February, French investigative outlet Mediapart published witness statements and documents that purported to show that Bayrou “could not have been unaware of the accusations.”
The French prime minister quickly denied the allegations and said he had “never been informed of any incidents of violence, let alone sexual violence.” He said that he would be suing Mediapart for libel, though the outlet told POLITICO it has not received any notice that a suit has been filed.
Bayrou later said that, though he knew nothing about incidents of sexual violence, he had been made aware of the charges pressed in 1996.
Alain Hontangs, an investigator who looked into allegations of sexual abuse against the school’s former principal in 1998, told lawmakers under oath that a judge had informed him the investigation was being delayed because Bayrou — who was no longer in government but remained president of the local council — had intervened. The judge, Christian Mirande, confirmed that he had discussed the allegations with Bayrou but said he did not remember speaking with investigators about the now-prime minister.
Bayrou is set to testify before lawmakers on May 14 as part of a bipartisan parliamentary inquiry into violence in schools.
When asked about whether her father knew what was happening at the school, Perlant told Paris March: “The more entangled we are, the less we see, the less we understand.”
“We have things in front of our eyes, but see nothing; partial pieces, we understand nothing,” she said.
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