"A liberating moment": Bayrou congratulates himself on having "shown that everything was without foundation" during his hearing in the Bétharram affair

"For me, it was a somewhat liberating moment," Prime Minister François Bayrou declared on Wednesday, May 14 , following his lengthy hearing before the commission of inquiry into violence in schools, which questioned him about the Betharram scandal.

Accused of lying about what he knew or did not know about this case of sexual and physical violence at the Notre-Dame de Bétharram middle school, the head of government said that "there have been accusations for four months without him being able to respond."

François Bayrou welcomed having had "for the first time the opportunity to provide, not denials or arguments, but proof," adding: "I cannot allow the truth to be so wiped off the map."

The latter is pleased to have had "the opportunity to provide, not denials or arguments, but evidence" and "to show that everything was baseless." "I cannot allow the truth to be so wiped off the map," explains François Bayrou, after more than five hours of hearing.

The Prime Minister deplores the fact that the "victims" were "totally absent" from the questions during his hearing.

During more than five hours of hearings at the National Assembly, the Prime Minister vehemently rejected accusations of lying or interfering with the courts in the Bétharram affair, while his main opponent from La France Insoumise, Paul Vannier, accused him of "dodging" his responsibilities.

"I did not cover up any practices whatsoever. I did not have any inside information. I did not stand by when I discovered the cases and I never intervened in a case," he affirmed, although contradicted by a former judge, a former police officer and a retired teacher, and even in some respects by his eldest daughter Hélène.

This scandal deeply affects the head of Matignon, a former minister and former MP, who educated several of his children in this renowned Catholic establishment, located near Pau, the town of which he remained mayor, and where his wife taught catechism.

Among the detailed questions, François Bayrou had to explain his relationship with a former investigating judge, Christian Mirande, who was also his neighbor . The magistrate was in charge of the rape case involving a religious officer at the establishment, Father Carricart, and he had received a visit from François Bayrou in 1998 to discuss this affair.

The latter also dwelt on the details of the inspection report he had commissioned as Minister of National Education in 1996 following a complaint and which had been favourable to the establishment.

Furthermore, he questioned the hearing of a former mathematics teacher from Bétharram, Françoise Gullung, who said she had alerted him on several occasions, calling it "a fabrication."

The Pau prosecutor's office has been investigating for a year around 200 complaints of alleged violence and rape at the Notre-Dame de Bétharram school between the 1970s and 1990s.