French PM Bayrou under fire over Catholic school abuse cover-up

Physical and sexual violence at a Catholic school in France persisted for years without any response from Prime Minister Francois Bayrou, who served as education minister between 1993 and 1997, a parliamentary inquiry said on Wednesday.

The scathing report issued by several French lawmakers, who have investigated the widespread claims of abuse at the Notre-Dame de Betharram boarding school, also pointed to "persistent violence" in other French schools, accusing the state of failing to act.

Bayrou, 74, has in recent months faced accusations from the opposition that as education minister, he knew of widespread physical and sexual abuse over many decades at the Notre-Dame de Betharram school to which he sent some of his children.

"In the absence of action that the former education minister had the means to take, this physical and sexual violence against the pupils of Betharram continued for years," the two co-rapporteurs of the inquiry, Violette Spillebout and Paul Vannier, said in a 330-page report.

The conclusions of the commission of inquiry, which began its work in March and heard from 135 people, including survivors of abuse at other schools, add further pressure on Bayrou, who survived a vote of no confidence on Tuesday.

Named by President Emmanuel Macron in December to bring much-needed stability to the French government, his minority coalition depends on the far-right to stay in office and risks being ejected in the autumn in a looming standoff over the budget.

The centrist politician has denied any wrongdoing and denounced what he calls a campaign of "destruction" against him.

'Absolute sadism' 

"This commission of inquiry was a thorough investigation into the unthinkable: children, all over France, subjected to monstrous acts," wrote Fatiha Keloua Hachi, who presided over the inquiry.

Over the past three months, the lawmakers heard of sexual violence and "physical violence too, sometimes of an unprecedented severity, of absolute sadism," she said.

In mid-May, Bayrou was questioned for five and a half hours by the lawmakers investigating the violence, in one of the most delicate moments of his five months in office. He struck a defiant tone at the time and said he only knew of allegations of sexual abuse from media reports.

Centrist Spillebout and Vannier, a lawmaker with the hard-left France Unbowed party (LFI), said the violence at the Betharram school was systemic and "cannot be reduced to isolated incidents".

The violence "was - at least in part - institutionalised", they said, with "a community of prominent figures providing unwavering support", including "members of the government".

The lawmakers stressed that the abuse at the Notre-Dame de Betharram school was also "far from being a unique case".

Such violence still persists in private schools, particularly Catholic establishments, the authors said, pointing to a "strong code of silence."

The rapporteurs also deplored "a failing state," with "virtually non-existent" controls and an "inadequate" system of prevention and reporting.

They listed a range of proposals to address the violence, including creating a compensation fund for victims.

Around 200 legal complaints have been filed since February last year, accusing priests and staff at Betharram of physical or sexual abuse from 1957 to 2004.

Some of the boarders said the experience had scarred them for life, recounting how some priests visited boys at night.

Bayrou's eldest daughter, Helene Perlant, accused the clergy running the school of systemic abuse, saying a priest beat her during summer camp when she was 14. She said, however, her father did not know about the incident.

AFP News