A victim of incest arose in front of the bishop of Bayonne and made a shock speech

Arnaud Gallais, former member of the CIIVISE, arrested the bishop of Bayonne on the Bétharram affair during a press conference this Thursday.

“We knew things, we hid them,” admitted the bishop of Bayonne, Mgr Marc Aillet, during a press conference this Thursday, March 13 alongside Vincent Destais, director of teaching of the diocese. The two men expressed for the first time on the Betharram case, in the company of the priest Laurent Bacho, head of the listening unit within the congregation.

Upstream of the speech of the bishop, Arnaud Gallais, former member of the CIIVISE and co-founder of the Mouv’enfants Child Protection Association, intervened to support victims of sexist and sexual violence. The raised and gloved fist of white, he accused the church of “refusing to open his archives”, denouncing the “lies” of the institution on his ignorance of physical and sexual violence in Catholic establishments in the region.

“It is a simulacrum here. That justice is for the victims, I was violated between the age of 8 and 11 years old, I support my brothers in Betharram, I support my brothers in Garaison (this other Catholic establishment in the Hautes-Pyrénées, targeted by accusations of mistreatment). Everyone knew here. I was in small villages and everyone said: ” Betharram. Stop telling us that you find out […] You have blood on your hands, “proclaims the activist.

Associative actor for more than sixteen years, Arnaud Gallais was the victim of a double incest, committed by a great-uncle and two cousins. Over time, he never ceased to activate to have law voting and raising public opinion on abuse and sexual violence against children.

Thus taken to his part by the activist, the bishop of Bayonne praised “the liberation of speech after” a law of omerta generalized in the Church and society “during” decades “.” I hear your anger, your suffering “, he soberly replied, before maintaining having learned” by the press “the accusations of violence committed to the Bastle-Betharram and in another private college, Ustaritz, where facts have been denounced without filing a complaint so far.

However, the bishop guarantees that it has not remained “inactive” either. “Since 2016, a listening unit has been set up in the diocese and two reports have been brought to the attention of the public prosecutors of Pau and Bayonne,” he said. A “youth protection protocol” has also been set up.