Gilles Beyer was accused of rape and sexual assault by several women, including Sarah Abitbol.
Former figure skating coach Gilles Beyer, accused of rape and sexual assault by several women including his former student Sarah Abitbol, died at the age of 66, we learned on Saturday from his lawyer, confirming information from the Obs. Gilles Beyer, who was “very sickaccording to Me Thibault de Montbrial, was at the center of a resounding scandal of sexual violence in figure skating.
In early 2020, former skater Sarah Abitbol accused him in the book “Un si long silenceof repeated rape and sexual assault, committed when she was between 15 and 17 years old in the early 1990s. However, she had not filed a complaint, given the prescription of the facts. In a written statement to AFP, Gilles Beyer acknowledged “intimate relationships» et «inappropriatewith Sarah Abitbol, presenting her with “excuses“. After these revelations, he was indicted in January 2021 by an investigating judge for sexual assault by a person in authority and sexual harassment by a person in authority, and placed under judicial supervision for more recent alleged facts.
«I am in shock“reacted Sarah Abitbol to the Obs. “He leaves before being judged, I would have liked there to be a trial.“His death indeed leads to the closure of the judicial investigation”by termination of public action“, explained Gilles Beyer’s lawyer. “It’s crazy, this death comes just a week before my show, where I talk about this trauma, the liberation of my speech, my rebirth, and my return to the ice… God has decided soadded Abitbol.
In the closed world of figure skating, Sarah Abitbol’s book had led to a flood of revelations. Other skaters had made accusations of sexual assault, sexual harassment or blackmail aimed at other coaches or ex-skating coaches. The president for more than twenty years of the French Federation of Ice Sports (FFSG), Didier Gailhaguet, had been forced after a long standoff to resign at the beginning of February 2020. An administrative investigation then brought to light suspicions weighing on 21 FFSG coaches. “A lot of false things have been said and written about (Gilles Beyer) and I would have liked him to have had the opportunity to speak publicly, some would have been surprised“, said his lawyer again.