one year in prison against Andre Fort the former bishop of Orleans

Seven years after the start of an investigation into suspicion of badual badault in July 1993 at a youth camp in Arthez d'Asson in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques, the trial of Pierre de Castelet, the former priest of Lorris, in the Loiret, took place on Tuesday before the Criminal Court of Orleans. Present at the hearing he explained about touching imposed on boys from 11 to 13 years in what he presented as "medical visits to update the cards", while he was the chaplain and the director of this camp organized by the Youth Eucharistic Movement. "Medical visits" which, whatever the state of health of the victims, still did not end a palpation of the bads. Facts recognized by the Abbé de Castelet.

André Fort the former bishop of Orléans absent at his trial

But from the beginning of the trial, this Tuesday, before the Criminal Court of Orleans, it is the absence of the other accused, Andre Fort, the former bishop of Orleans, who is the subject of the most heated debates. The former superior of Pierre De Castelet, bishop of Orléans from 2002 to 2011, is pursued him, for not denouncing these badual badaults. Contacted in 2010 by one of the victims, Olivier Savignac, he does not transmit the complaint to the public prosecutor, as the law imposes on anyone with knowledge of such facts. "He says he did not want to commit this offense, when he received Olivier Savignac, he did not realize he had to denounce" explains his lawyer, Benoit De Gaullier.

It's cowardice, I hesitated to send him a forensic doctor as we do with Corsican thugs

Explanations that he alone can deliver, André Fort is not here to explain himself. "His state of fatigue deteriorated after an operation, he had planned to come, he had organized everything, but we had to bow to the aggravation of his condition, it is not a maneuver to escape the justice" badures the lawyer. Yet this is how the other parties interpret this absence: "he has an inability to badume the facts" regrets one of the victims' lawyers, Mr. Edmond Fréty. The prosecutor of the Republic of Orleans Nicolas Bessone goes even further, speaks to him of cowardice : "I hesitated to send him a forensic doctor, as I did with the wicked Corsicans, to check that he was very ill, I did not think I had to do it for a bishop".

No denunciation of the bishops who succeeded each other until 2011

In the absence of André Fort, there is no one, no one in charge of the hierarchy of the Church, to explain the silence surrounding these badual badaults since they were committed, in July 1993 and before they were denounced by the current bishop of Orléans Jacques Blaquart, who transmits him to the prosecutor as soon as he receives the letter of the victim Olivier Savignac, in December 2011. Before that, nothing, no denunciation from Bishop Picandet, bishop of Orleans in 1993, today. Informed since the summer of 1993 he speaks with Pierre De Castelet, he is intimate to leave the Youth Eucharistic Movement but authorizes it to supervise other young people, Scouts of Europe, in the Loiret.

I did not take justice, I did not think it was my job to do it

No referral either from Gérard Daucourt, the next bishop, also informed of the "case" De Casteletwhich simply bars his minister from participating in youth camps. No denunciation either of Monseigneur Aubertin, Archbishop of Tours, to whom Philippe Cottin, another victim, and his father, both write, in 2007. He is quoted on the witness stand, and explains: "I asked them to go to court, I thought it was not my place to do it". He is worried, however, when in 2010 he sees Pierre De Castelet in the middle of a group of European scouts at a rally. He calls on André Fort, then bishop of Orleans, "who sends me a walk telling me oh it's gossip, you too!"

I asked him to leave to avoid legal consequences François-Xavier Bocca to the bishop of the time

Also cited by the victims' lawyers, François-Xavier Bocca, the Jesuit Father in charge of the Youth Eucharistic Movement. He arrives in emergency, in July 1993, at the Arthez Asson camp in Béarn, warned that there was a problem with Pierre De Castelet, alerted by the youth leaders of the camp who do not want to be silent. He takes the children one by one, they are ten to have undergone the "medical visits", all say the same thinghe hears the animators. And makes the decision to send Father De Castelet to another camp. "I asked him to leave to avoid legal consequences" he wrote in a report he sent to Monseigneur Picandet, the superior of Pierre De Castelet.

What is the power that allows you to do nothing?

25 years later, François-Xavier Bocca does not really remember having written these words, "at the time when things happened like that we just sent people away, society changed". "How can you gather so many elements and do nothing?" the questioned Master Edmond Fréty the lawyer of the victims, "what is the power that authorizes you"? "If you tell me that I did not respect these children, you are right" replies François-Xavier Bocca. He, like Monsignor Aubertin, leaves just after having testified in court, without waiting for the rest, without hearing the victims. "They left like thieves" the attorney of the Republic is carried away.

An electroshock to force the church to look at the truth in the face

To create "an electroshock ", to "force the church to face the truth", Nicolas Bessone in his requisitions asks the court to pronounce a prison sentence of one year in prison against André Fort. With even the key to an arrest warrant, "to force him to come and answer for his actions". A sentence that the lawyer of the former bishop considers exaggerated, "The electroshock took place at the hearing, it is not worth it that can have this role" responds Benoit de Gaullier, who asks the court to relax his client.