Two weeks after our revelations about violence in judo, and in particular the publication of C.’s testimony explaining having been raped for several months by her trainer, the authorities of this sport are in turmoil. In recent days, the French Judo Federation has taken protective measures against two coaches: Julien (the first name has been changed), the alleged aggressor of C., indicted in 4 cases (for acts of rape, sexual assault and attempted rape) and a former president of a regional league.
The two men know each other – one having notably been the teacher of the other – and both still trained recently in different clubs in the Nord and Pas-de-Calais. Clubs of which some do not seem to worry too much. At the end of the week, none of the four entities where Julien was training (4 alleged victims identified) until September had yet reported to the Federation.
The case concerning Steeve (the first name has been changed), the former president of a regional league, is intriguing. The man, of which several dojos bear the name, spent 4 years (between 2012 and 2016) on the Federation’s steering committee. If the president Jean-Luc Rougé assures us “never to have heard of rumors” concerning him, the name of this man of about sixty years was announced to us three times (by people not knowing each other) during our investigation, which lasted more than 8 months. 10 days ago, a report reached the anti-violence cell of the Ministry of Sports, denouncing, according to the federation, “acts of sexual assault and moral harassment”. “We have been suspicious of me,” Steeve admitted to AFP. These are disagreements between people in a club. According to our information, the case is however much more serious than quarrels of people and could well take a judicial turn, the facts concerning certain presumed victims not being prescribed.
“Amnesia is hitting a lot of people …”
Soon, the Minister for Sports, Roxana Maracineanu, will launch a general inspection, aiming in particular to point out possible dysfunctions within the authorities. The Ligue des Hauts-de-France could perhaps thus be brought to explain for what reasons it seems to have panicked, at the beginning of November on the case of Steeve and suddenly made part of the Federation of rumors concerning him. Rumors, denounced as if by a miracle these days, and which had nevertheless been circulating for many years. If no complaint had ever been filed until then, no one had ever really looked into the matter.
And still according to our information, Steeve would not be the only one to have escaped the research. In recent years, another judo teacher, Quentin (the name has been changed), has been making a lot of talk in the North. So much so that he was the subject, at least twice between 2008 and 2011 – of reports to the Nord-Pas-de-Calais League for alleged sexual relations with underage judokas with each time the same mode operative.
Copies of these reports were also sent to the Federation. Quentin, however, has never been the subject of a precautionary measure, aimed at removing him from minors pending the outcome of an investigation. Even if some elected officials of the Nord-Pas-de-Calais League tried to act, they would not have been followed by their president, who was at the time Steeve, the professor that the Federation suspended from all functions in beginning of the week. “Why did nothing happen, why was there no investigation? asks someone close to the case. Amnesia is hitting a lot of people… ”
The panic is still there. Since our revelations, the Federation has already announced a series of measures concerning sexual violence (the cases of physical violence that our file pointed out are for the moment absent from the federal debate): psychological support for victims via assistance financial, the systematic constitution of civil parties during the trials, the withdrawal of the black belt from professors guilty of sexual violence. This may seem anecdotal to ordinary people, far removed from the customs and traditions of judo, but the detail is nevertheless important. Especially since a judo teacher sentenced at the end of the 1990s to 20 years in prison for rape of minors is still on the list of high ranking officers, the one that is the pride of French judo.
