a singing teacher from the Conservatory targeted by three complaints, including one for rape

A singing teacher from the Marseille Conservatory is the target of three complaints of sexual assault. The last one was filed on Monday.

A 32-year-old man filed a complaint on Monday, December 18, for sexual assault against a singing teacher at the Marseille Conservatory, franceinfo learned from the complainant’s lawyer, confirming information from the Parisian. This is the third complaint filed against the teacher, according to the lawyer in this case. For the moment, the Marseille prosecutor’s office confirms having received one of the three complaints, the oldest. An investigation is open.

The man left the Pierre-Barbizet Conservatory in Marseille a year ago. He denounces facts that occurred, according to his statements, during a private lesson at the teacher’s home. He says she put her hands on his private parts, above the clothes. A questionable educational technique, according to Maître Armand Feste-Guidon, lawyer for the three plaintiffs, who affirms that the complaints have been filed. The complainant also denounces another gesture: a slap on the buttocks that previously occurred at the Conservatoire.

Two other complaints were filed

This complaint is in addition to the two previous ones. On December 8, a 23-year-old woman – a Ukrainian refugee student at the Conservatory – claimed to have suffered a sexual assault similar to the one denounced above. According to her, the singing teacher placed her hands in the pelvic region, near the young woman’s private parts, above her clothes, highlighting, again, a technique for singing. The complainant also speaks of a slap on the buttocks. She claims that these events took place at the Conservatory at the end of November during a singing lesson.

As for the last complaint, it was filed in two parts, adds the lawyer. The first part concerns accusations of sexual assault and moral harassment which occurred, according to the 31-year-old complainant, at the beginning of June at the Conservatory. The second part concerns a rape that occurred, again according to the complainant, at the professor’s home in September.

An internal investigation was carried out this summer by the Conservatory

Contacted by franceinfo, the Conservatoire affirms that an internal investigation was carried out this summer after the filing of the first complaint. The singing teacher in question was suspended for four months during this investigation. The teacher was finally reinstated in September. A new internal investigation is underway, declares the Conservatory. It follows the second complaint filed at the beginning of December. The singing teacher is, for the moment, still in activity, according to the Conservatory.

Contacted, the Marseille prosecutor’s office confirmed on Tuesday that it had received the oldest complaint, that filed in two parts by the 31-year-old woman, in June and September, who accuses the teacher of sexual assault, moral harassment and rape. . This Wednesday, the prosecution specified that it had received the two other complaints filed in December: “A preliminary investigation is opened for rape and sexual assault and entrusted to departmental security, following the filing of three complaints“. The teacher implicated in this case has not yet been heard.