Last December, thunderclap in French swimming. Yannick Agnel admits before the investigators to have had, in 2016, sexual relations with the young N., then 13 years old (she is now 19). But he denies having exerted the slightest constraint. At the time, the law (which has since been amended *) defined rape as “any act of sexual penetration committed by violence, coercion, threat or surprise”. This law specified that “moral constraint can result from the difference in age”.
“This is the case the judge retained, explains the prosecutor of Mulhouse, Edwige Roux-Morizot. Yannick Agnel was 24, eleven years older than the victim. “ The prosecutor evokes a “relationship of influence”between the Olympic champion swimmer and the teenager. Today, Yannick Agnel“is aware of having done something serious”, adds Edwige Roux-Morizot and he “regret”.
According to our information, the facts began with a ” kiss“One New Year’s Eve, December 31, 2015, in the apartment rented by the swimmer in the center of Mulhouse. Then there was sexual intercourse on several occasions. First in Riedisheim, at the very home of Lionel Horter. Yannick Agnel has been staying there since the start of 2016. His trainer has installed him at home to closely supervise his preparation and his hygiene of life in the perspective of the Olympic Games in Rio.
Identical events took place in Thailand, where the Elite team of the Mulhouse Olympic Swimming (MON) club went on training in January and February 2016. N. was part of the trip. “When I found out what happened I was amazed, tells us a former employee of the club present in Thailand. It is true that one has to remain vigilant, but one cannot stay awake all night to control what is going on. “
Others seem less surprised. Thus, a young swimmer remembers that N. was going “regularly”in Yannick Agnel’s room during this stay. “I had doubts about what was going on”, she admits. Other swimmers of the time wonder how the parents of the victim, Lionel and Marjorie Horter, omnipresent in the life of the club, in particular during these courses abroad,“may not have seen anything”. During their hearing by the investigators on July 15, 2021, the latter indicated that they had learned of the facts only two weeks before their daughter lodged a complaint, that is to say at the start of the 2021 summer vacation. Visibly in pain, N. their would have told what had happened with Yannick Agnel.
/2022/01/12/phpafHKkp.jpg)
But many people close to MON are wondering about this version. This is the case of a former club executive, who tells us about this episode dating back to“end of March beginning of April 2019”. MON is then in conflict with Yannick Agnel who claims 60,000 euros for his last year of contract with the club, it would not have been paid to him. The club then sends a letter of conciliation.“Franck Horter[président du MON et frère de Lionel, NDLR]told me that Yannick would be wise to accept this conciliation , tells this old executive,because they have a file on him and his niece, N. “
More broadly, the intimate relationship that existed between the former Olympic champion and the daughter of Lionel Horter was known to swimmers of the time. We were able to reach one of them, which was heard by the police in the fall of 2021.“N. told me at the end of 2017 that she had had a relationship with Yannick Agnel a year earlier, she confides to the investigation unit of Radio France.She told me in the tone of confidence. I think she didn’t realize. “This young swimmer, who is only a year older than N., continues:“At 13, you are not able to judge this. I am sorry for her.”
In the fall of 2017, N. also confided in R., her boyfriend at the time. Gradually,“everyone is aware within the club”, confides another swimmer, who has since gone to train elsewhere.“The swimmers may have been aware, for his part believes one of N.’s lawyers, Thomas Wetterer.But the information did not go back to Lionel and Marjorie Horter who are part of the management. The management is an authoritarian figure for these young people. “
“There is no evidence at present that the parents were aware, adds the prosecutor of Mulhouse.Judicial information evolves with the hearings. We’ll see. In any case, it does not lessen the suffering of the victim. “The prosecutor insists:“N. is the victim in this case. She has not been doing well for several months, because of what she suffered and which is emerging today.”
Edwige Roux-Morizot also refuses to establish a link between this affair and the current financial troubles of the Horter family. Those are“separate cases”, according to her. Franck and Lionel Horter are indeed in the crosshairs of justice, the management of their club being the subject of a preliminary investigation carried out by the financial section of the judicial police of Mulhouse. In another case, the MON was indicted for “attempted fraud”, for facts dating from 2016. The club was also ordered to pay the 60,000 euros he owed Yannick Agnel for his last year of contract **.
Finally, following an unfavorable financial audit, Mulhouse Alsace Agglomeration will resume, as of January 31, 2022, the management of the MON basins, including the outdoor Olympic basin, which can be used by other clubs and by schoolchildren. . In short, the MON is in turmoil. Lionel Horter and his brother Franck whom we contacted refused“to make the slightest comment”.
* Since the law of April 2021, the Penal Code punishes any act of sexual penetration committed by an adult on a minor under 15 years old, even without violence, coercion, threat or surprise.
** In July 2020, the MON was ordered to pay these 60,000 euros to Yannick Agnel. The club appealed. The hearing will take place in March 2022.