Overview
- The artistic director and teacher at the Compagnie des enfants du spectacle in Nice has been formally placed under investigation (mis en examen) and ordered to pre-trial detention in a case involving alleged sexual offenses against minors.
- Prosecutors opened a judicial inquiry, a process in French law led by an examining judge, on counts that include sexual assault, sexual exhibition, and corruption of minors.
- Police gathered more than a dozen testimonies from former students that describe older and more recent incidents tied to his role at the school.
- Accounts reported by authorities detail groping, inner-thigh massages, a mirror positioned to view a locker room without a door, orders to drop bikini tops on trips, forced positions, and exposure of genitals after a towel drop.
- The Nice prosecutor, Damien Martinelli, sought the detention order, and the accused denies wrongdoing, calling the case a “cabal,” as investigators examine practices at the prominent school founded in 1986.