Abbé Pierre is the target of 17 new reports of sexual violence. One of the victims testifies on franceinfo.
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“Even though he is no longer here, impunity is gradually being lifted”greets this Saturday, September 7, with franceinfo a nurse, accusing Abbé Pierre of sexual assault. Already accused by seven people, Abbé Pierre was targeted by 17 new testimonies of sexual violence, Friday, September 6, according to a report by the specialized firm Egaé. After these new revelations, the Abbé Pierre Foundation announced that it wanted to change its name and close the place of remembrance dedicated to the religious in Esteville (Seine-Maritime). The name change is “important”, because “That means they heard us.”explains the caregiver now in her fifties. She had agreed to speak to Radio France in July.
In 2006, while she was working in a military hospital in the Paris region, Abbé Pierre was taken into care in her department. He was 93 years old. She revealed that it was while accompanying the priest to his toilet that she had been attacked. “He stood up, he walked. And he grabbed both my breasts. I slapped him,” says the forty-year-old. “He told me he was old, he was tired, he needed to stand up.”adds the victim.
Now that 24 women are accusing Abbé Pierre, she says to herself “stunned by the scale of this”. “I am relieved, rather serene, but at the same time horrified by everything I hear, by the amount of testimonies, by the number of people, by the scale that this whole story has had and is taking today.” “How he was able to act with complete impunity”, she wonders. “There are women who have been raped”she laments. “I met him at the end of his life, he may not have had that strength, both psychologically and physically, but I tell myself that there are women who have lived through much worse.”
After 17 years, I thought it was over. But I realize I still get goosebumps, sobs in my voice when I talk about it, and I think, yes, I need this.”
the nurseto franceinfo
“I decided to meet the Foundation which wanted to meet the victims”announces the nurse who also claims to have seen a psychologist.
“When I see other women giving their testimony, I tell myself that if I was able to participate even a little in the liberation of speech, so much the better.”she concludes. “That alone is a victory, because it tells our young girls that they are strong and that they can talk about it.”