After the Notre-Dame-de-Betharram scandal, languages are delighted with extreme violence in the establishment of Notre-Dame de Garaison.
The revelations are linked to cases of violence in educational establishments, the Betharram case having clearly released the floor. Another Catholic establishment, Notre-Dame de Garaison in Monléon-Magnoac in the Hautes-Pyrénées, who notably welcomed the former Prime Minister Jean Castex, is particularly pointed out, due to a radio France investigation.
Philippe, a former pupil, first told journalists of the public service that in 1987, he had received a slap of a chief supervisor in the very deemed establishment, identifying with the story of one of the alleged victims of Betharram, reports the investigation cell of Radio France. This slap, confirmed by a medical certificate of the time, pierced the left eardrum and caused his departure from the school. He assured that violence was the rule to hold discipline.
A resident at the age of 12, Philippe then remembered repeated violence, especially in the evening or at night. He notably told his first night in the boarding school where it all started: “I remember my first night in Garaison, I discussed with my neighbor. The pawn forced me to denounce myself. He asked me to come to him, to hold his pocket lamp. He put a big slap in the face and said to me ‘give me the lamp and will go back to bed’. He also reported that the general supervisor whipped the students with a braided leather lace.
Another testimony is that of a woman, who was 13 years old at the time of the facts. She described a scene during which she was abused by a supervisor who prevented her from reading under study, he then led her to the chief supervisor and the situation degenerated. “When he opened the door. He immediately hit me. Kicking. Hitting. He grabbed my head and lined up from right to left against the walls. It lasted quite a long time. In the evening, once I got home, I ended up saying to my mother. The director of the time, Father YL, received it. He offered to go directly to the upper class if she did not case. She added that she witnessed other forms of violence: “I saw kids getting her nose farting, being opened with the browns. The boys did not deserve to have a pawn who tapped them with sophisticated santiags directly in the anus”.
An omerta and prescribed facts
Philippe also highlighted the omerta around these facts of violence: “Everyone knew it. Betharram and Garaison had the same reputation at the time. Parents were not aware that children lived things like that. And children did not speak.”
No complaints would have been filed with the establishment for such accusations, advanced the services of the Pau Republic prosecutor. In 1991however, a supervisor was charged with rape on a 6th year in this establishment. In 2009, a former college supervisor was sentenced to 12 years in prison for “rapes and sexual assault on minors aged 15 and per person with authority”.
These facts of violence and mistreatment are denounced on the Facebook group Collective Victims Notre Dame de Garaisoncreated by Philippe: he has already collected a dozen testimonies. They However, do not evoke sexual violence and go back to decades, they are therefore now prescribed. “IHere I have suffered, here you will suffer “, such was the motto registered on the tables of classrooms of the college of Notre-Dame de Garaison. It was in this establishment that I discovered religious hypocrisy. Under a beneficial appearance, she agrees with the worst, the unacceptable! “Summates Philippe in the introduction of the group.