The “canoe coach” will stand trial in July for sexual abuse of minors, facts he admitted while in police custody, Rennes prosecutor Philippe Astruc announced on Saturday. The man is suspected of “sexual abuse of a minor over 15 years of age by a government official,” the judge said.
According to regional daily Le Télégramme, it was 70-year-old Jean-Yves Prigent who won the team gold medal (K1) at the world championships in 1977 and whose family is considered highly influential in the world of French canoeing. . His wife Marie-Françoise is in charge of the site in Vers-sur-Marne, where the Olympic canoeing and rowing competitions will be held this summer during the Paris Games, and their son Yves Prigent works in Paris 2024, our colleagues from Franceinfo, 29 clarified April. Finally, Jean-Yves Prigent’s daughter, Camille, has been selected to compete in the 2024 Olympic Games in kayak slalom.
Philippe Astruc, who did not want to reveal the coach’s name, said that in March, “a parent came forward (…) to denounce acts of sexual abuse committed against his 16-year-old son at his canoe-kayak coach during a competition weekend.”
The accused “admitted all the stated facts”
“These touchings may have occurred (…) while they were sleeping together in the defendant’s campervan,” he added. It was established that a second victim of the same age was also touched in the same context the following night. »
According to the magistrate, “heard in police custody, the accused admitted all the facts stated” by the applicants and was sent on Friday to the Rennes prosecutor’s office.
He will be tried at the Rennes criminal court on July 12, Philippe Astruc said. While under judicial supervision, he is prohibited from “carrying out professional or voluntary activities involving ordinary contact with minors,” from having contact with victims, but also from “appearing at the Rennes kayaking club and at the Pôle France de Cesson-Sévigné kayaking club.” “, near the capital of Breton.
In early May, the French canoeing and kayaking federation confirmed, without naming names, that it “received the report a few weeks ago, which was processed in accordance with normal procedure.” As in such a case, the executive office very quickly took precautionary measures, awaiting the disciplinary committee of first instance.”
Source: Le Parisien
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