Bétharram Case: Judicial Investigation Opened for Rape, One Suspect Indicted

A new judicial development has emerged in the case of violence at Notre-Dame de Bétharram, a Catholic institution in Béarn. On Friday, February 21, a judicial investigation was opened for rape by a person in authority and sexual assault on a minor under 15 against a former supervisor of the institution, born in 1965. He was still working there in 2024 before being dismissed following the launch of the investigation. The Pau prosecutor’s office has requested his pre-trial detention.

Three Suspects in Custody, Only One Prosecuted

On Wednesday, three men aged 59, 69, and 93 were arrested and taken into police custody as part of the preliminary investigation launched in early 2024 for “aggravated rapes, aggravated sexual assaults, and aggravated violence,” involving alleged acts committed between 1957 and 2004. While the former supervisor, aged 59, is to be presented to an investigating judge, the other two suspects were released due to the statute of limitations preventing further legal action against them.

One of them, aged 93, was suspected of sexually assaulting a former student between 1957 and 1962, acts he admitted to investigators. The second, aged 69, was accused of rapes and sexual assaults on 18 teenagers between 1978 and 1989, as well as physical violence against 55 former boarders. He acknowledged having slapped some students but denied any sexual violence.

A Scandal of Significant Magnitude

For the past year, gendarmes from the Pau research section have been gathering testimonies from former students alleging physical and sexual abuse within the institution. Twenty complaints were filed on January 31, 2024, while 112 letters were sent to the judiciary. To date, 132 complaints have been recorded, describing a climate of terror from 1955 to 2004, including humiliation, corporal punishment, rape, and sexual assaults.

Among the eleven lay and religious staff members implicated, eight have since passed away. Several former students have spoken publicly, describing extreme violence. One of them, Olivier Bunel, told BFMTV that it was a “gulag from another era.”

A Case Taking a Political Turn

The case has gained national attention as Prime Minister François Bayrou is accused of having been informed of the abuses as early as the 1990s, when he was Minister of National Education. A former Bétharram teacher, Françoise Gullung, claims she reported the violence to him at the time. Bayrou denies any knowledge of the incidents.

The investigation continues with further hearings and inquiries, while victims demand justice for the abuse they endured over several decades in this institution.