The two Corapporters of the Parliamentary Research Commission on the control of schools by the State seized this Tuesday, March 18, “extremely interesting” documents within the ex-defame-of-Bétharram (Pyrénées-Atlantiques) and in diocesan schools, without obtaining “all” the desired files.
Violette Spillette agents (Renaissance) and Paul Vannier (LFI) met Bayona’s bishop, Mgr Marc Aillet, who for the first time opened the archives of the Diocesan Directorate of Catholic Education. In 2021, he had been the only religious leader to refuse to open those of his diocese to the Independent Sexual Abuse Commission in the Church (Cias).
“Several extremely interesting documents”
The two parliamentarians also spent “an hour and a half” in the beautiful branch, the current name of the Catholic Notre-Dame-Bétharram institution, an establishment in the heart of a vast business of physical and sexual violence perpetrated for decades in students. Its current director Romain Clercq, in office since 2011, opened the available files.
“In general, we find part of what we are looking for,” said Paul Vannier Press to The Press on Tuesday. “We have collected many documents, but documents are also missing,” he added, emphasizing, however, that “all the doors” had been “open” for them.
“We have found a certain amount of extremely interesting documents, for example, in the context of the time of alleged or denounced crimes, disciplinary advice reports, school medicine files …”, detailed Violette Spillette.
The commission must complete its hearings in May and return its report at the end of June. She plans to audition several personalities in the next three months, starting Thursday with the spokesman for the victims of Betharram Alain Esquerre, who will also be received by the Minister of Education, Elisabeth Borne.
In mid -February, a religious and two former Bétharram lawyers were arrested as part of the judicial investigation that is related to more than 150 complaints. The priest and one of the supervisors benefited from the prescription of the facts, the other was accused and imprisoned.
The Corapporters did not find correspondence between the establishment and the academic inspection, the Rectorate or the Ministry of Education, the only known inspection dating from 1996. News have been made since Monday.
The files seem to “interrupt themselves,” according to them, “in the 2000s,” the previous period seemed “inaccessible” at this stage.
In general, the two deputies confiscated documents related to “five or six” establishments in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques. Certain files, according to them, illustrate the procedures followed by educational structures to “attract certain information to the attention of the prosecutor” in case of violence, automatically or not.
“We cannot say today that we are satisfied. Of course, there are gaps. But we are going in the right direction,” said Violette Spillet.
The two elected officials presented a report to the Pau prosecutor as “two acts of sexual violence among the students of the establishment” Beau Rameau (former Betharam) occurred at the end of 2024, while the most recent event held at the moment for justice dates from 2004.
Source: BFM TV
