Violence and sexual abuse at French Catholic school: Bétharram victims speak out

This week, France in Focus explores the “Bétharram scandal”, named after the Catholic school where hundreds of pupils were subjected to physical, psychological and sexual abuse for decades. The perpetrators of these crimes were never brought to justice, despite complaints lodged as early as the 1990s. Today, the vast majority of those cases are ineligible for prosecution due to the statute of limitations but the victims are still demanding accountability, notably from current Prime Minister François Bayrou, who was education minister at the time and a high-ranking local figure.