The prosecutor’s office in Pau refused to reconsider the complaint of three victims of violence at Notre-Dame de Bétharram. Their lawyer, Mr. Blanco, hoped for an extension of the statute of limitations. In total, nearly 250 victims have filed complaints for physical and sexual assaults committed between 1957 and 2004.
«It’s surreal not to have been heard», protests Mr. Blanco. The decision of the Chamber of Instruction of the Court of Appeal in Pau was highly anticipated on June 17. Lawyer Jean-François Blanco had filed an appeal for the reconsideration of the statute of limitations for three cases involving physical and sexual violence at Notre-Dame de Bétharram.
The lawyer aimed to remove the statute of limitations for all nearly 250 complaints dating back from 1957 to 2004. However, he was not heard as the statute of limitations under the Penal Code is 30 years. Only one case was accepted, with very restrictive requirements that prevent the majority of victims from becoming civil parties.
«The prosecutor has buried the victims’ complaints»
«The response of the prosecutor, by refusing a global approach, has buried the victims’ complaints from Bétharram», Mr. Blanco believes. The lawyer from Pau has been involved in the case since 1995, when the first complaint was dismissed. However, it was towards the end of 2024, with the appointment of the mayor of Pau François Bayrou as Prime Minister, that the case came to light. The victims, gathered in a collective, were finally heard and received by the Public Prosecutor and the Prime Minister.
After staging all these images where the prosecutor in Pau welcomed all these victims and encouraged them to file complaints, no search for the truth will be conducted.
Mr. Jean-François BlancoVictims’ lawyer
Victims that Mr. Blanco now considers «abandoned by the judicial institution.» The lawyer, in this final appeal to the Public Prosecutor in Pau, sought to emphasize the serial nature of the crimes since 1957, and with them the responsibility of the institution that may have facilitated them.
«I dispute this interpretation of the statute of limitations. Sexual crimes, violence, torture have been part of a serial, continuous pattern, and have been concealed by the congregation of the fathers of Notre-Dame de Bétharram,” he stated last May when filing his appeal.
The lawyer is now frustrated that «the prosecutor refuses to investigate the responsibility of the congregation and the leaders of Bétharram.» He denounces «a blatant injustice».
Le conseil insiste sur la nécessité d’enquêter sur la passivité et l’inertie des institutions chargées de contrôler, et exprime des inquiétudes quant à une autre plainte déposée contre la congrégation des pères de Bétharram le 7 mars. Il regrette que le parquet de Pau n’ait pas élargi la saisine du juge d’instruction depuis 1957 ou ouvert une autre information judiciaire. Selon lui, il est crucial de prendre en compte le fait que les enfants ne réalisent pas forcément qu’ils sont victimes de crimes. Alain Esquerre, porte-parole du collectif des victimes de Bétharram, souligne que les victimes étaient conscientes des obstacles liés à la prescription, mais qu’elles ont décidé de changer l’histoire. Il évoque un mouvement similaire à «Me too scolaire» et se tourne vers l’avenir en mettant son espoir dans le rapport d’enquête parlementaire à paraître en juillet. A measure that would not concern facts that have already been judged.
Les victimes, elles, comptent bien faire appel de cette décision de la Cour d’appel. Les avocats de la défense ont dix jours pour formuler cet appel.
Des recours qui n’entament pas la détermination de Maître Blanco, qui promet de ne pas lâcher l’affaire. «Je continuerai à me battre pour que la justice soit rendue à ces victimes. C’est une question de dignité, de respect et de vérité.», conclut-il.
The parquet of Pau has refused to reconsider the complaint of three victims of violence at Notre-Dame de Bétharram. Their lawyer, Me Blanco, was hoping for an extension of the statute of limitations.
Alain Esquerre now says he is waiting for the parliamentary inquiry report which is expected to be released in early July and could, in its recommendations, request that penalties for offenses involving minor victims be made inexhaustible. A measure that would not apply to offenses that have already been judged.
Alain Esquerre is pleased that the institution has faced «popular pressure» and that several suspects have been taken into custody or summoned, but he also struggles to accept the outcome of the investigations. «It is not normal for a headmaster targeted by 102 complaints, including 28 criminal complaints, to be free,» notes the spokesperson for the collective.
This is the challenge of this case that has shaken public opinion and the political world in recent months: it has resulted in only one indictment. That of Patrick M, a former 59-year-old headmaster at Notre-Dame de Bétharram until 2024. He is charged with «rape» and «sexual assault on a minor under fifteen» and has been placed in pre-trial detention.
For the other two people questioned in custody last February, after over a year of investigation, the justice system has cited the statute of limitations for the offenses and released them.
The headmaster referred to by Alain Esquerre was nicknamed Cheval. Known for his punishment of making children stay outside during cold winter nights, Damien S, 69, was accused of rape, sexual assault, and voluntary violence against 74 minor victims under fifteen.
Another suspect in the investigation, Father Henri L., 94, admitted to sexual assault but is currently free and in a retirement home within the community of the Fathers of Bétharram.
For the victims of these acts of torture, barbarism, and sexual crimes, seeing the statutes of limitations absolve their tormentors is too difficult to bear. Nevertheless, there is still hope for them. The prosecutor may open another judicial investigation or modify the referral to the investigating judge, although this scenario is unlikely.
There is still a possibility for the victims of Bétharram, as explored by four former students of the Ozanam school in Limoges and revealed by France 3 Limousin on May 16. They filed a complaint for «crime against humanity» against the religious congregation of the Priests of the Sacred Heart of Jesus of Bétharram. The four men individually filed complaints between February and March 2025 for offenses dating back to the 1960s and 1970s, including physical punishments, humiliations, molestations, and rapes. En tout, près de 250 victimes ont déposé plainte pour des agressions physiques et sexuelles commises entre 1957 et 2004. Le conseil suggère d’ouvrir des enquêtes sur la passivité et l’inertie des institutions chargées de contrôler, tout en exprimant des inquiétudes quant à une autre plainte déposée contre la congrégation des pères de Bétharram. Pour lui, le parquet de Pau aurait dû élargir la saisine du juge d’instruction depuis 1957 ou ouvrir une autre information judiciaire, mais ne l’a pas fait. Il souligne l’importance de prendre en compte le fait que les enfants victimes ne réalisent pas toujours qu’ils sont victimes de crimes. Alain Esquerre, porte-parole du collectif des victimes de Bétharram, ne se montre pas surpris par le refus du Parquet de revoir la prescription dans ce dossier, car il affirme que cela était prévisible. Il évoque la création d’un mouvement similaire à «Me too scolaire» et mise sur l’avenir et l’influence qu’il peut avoir auprès des politiques. Attendre le rapport d’enquête parlementaire qui pourrait recommander de rendre inextinguibles les peines pour les crimes commis contre des victimes mineures.
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