Coral affair
 On October 25, 1982, the Coral defendants' defense committee gave a press conference | |
| Date | 1982 |
|---|---|
| Location | Nîmes, Occitania, France |
| Description | Case of sexual abuse of minors at a French children's home in 1982. The accusations involved several public figures including Culture Minister Jack Lang and Frédéric Mitterand, who were both cleared. The investigation was interfered with from high up. |
The Coral blue ballet or the Coral affair was a case of sexual abuse of minors that was exposed at a French children's home in 1982. Highly publicized at the time, the case is marked by the accusations against several public figures including Culture Minister Jack Lang and Frédéric Mitterand, the president's nephew, which both were cleared. The investigation was interfered with from high up.
Ballets roses (English: Pink ballets) is a French/European term for powerful people abusing underage girls; blue ballet refers to boys.
Overview
Coral was an educational "place of life" in an old farm in Aimargues, in the Gard, about fifteen kilometers from Nîmes in southern France. In the years after May 68, on the initiative of non-conformist educators or teachers, "places of life" are developed in France, aimed at applying alternative educational practices.[1]
At the end of 1981, a man named Jean-Claude Krief, aged 21, asks to do an educational internship on site. He stayed for a few weeks at Coral between Christmas 1981 and February 1982.[2]
In the fall of 1982, children from Coral were picked up by a neighbor and talked about pedophile practices. A complaint is filed with the gendarmerie by parents whose children have stayed at the Coral. The gendarmes visit the center on October 13, 1982. The investigating judge primarily investigates Claude Sigala, the Coral psychiatrist Alain Chiapello and an educator, Jean-Noël Bardy.[2]
At the same time, Jean-Claude Krief is arrested and charged with fraud and check forgery. He then said he had information about the Coral affair, which the media seized on: according to him, pedophilia was widely practiced at Coral, but the center would also welcome perverts from various backgrounds, who would come there to abuse the minors housed there. Krief accuses Claude Sigala and two other educators of sexual practices with minors staying at the Coral. According to his denunciations, a traffic of child pornography photos would transit through the Coral, or would be organized there.[2] Rumor is soon talking about sexual abuse committed in particular on minors with down syndrome.
Many political or intellectual personalities, often oriented to the left, are cited in Jean-Claude Krief's denunciations. Jack Lang, then minister of culture, is accused in particular. Also mentioned is the president's nephew, Frédéric Mitterand. President François Mitterand gets involved to stop the affair, as his close associate Captain Paul Barril tells in 1997: “I remember that we were alerted to stop the investigation into the pedophile network 'Coral 'because of the personalities involved.” [3]
Jean-Claude Krief is accused of having falsified his testimony and imprisoned in the same prison as Claude Sigala. In prison, he retracts part of his accusations by explaining that he acted out of love jealousy.[1]
At the same time, his brother Michel Krief is arrested for attempting to blackmail Minister Jack Lang. The accusations implicate personalities such as Michel Foucault, Félix Guattari, or even the current prime Minister Pierre Mauroy[4]. Michel Krief is then found dead at his home, allegedly having committed suicide.
Only the Coral's educational team will remain accused, and all other VIPs will be cleared by the police.[5][6]. At the end of the two trials, in 1987 Claude Sigala was sentenced to three years in prison, one of which was suspended, for indecent assaults without violence on minors under the age of 15. His wife and the psychiatrist Alain Chiapello are released, and three other Coral educators are sentenced to three years, one of which is suspended. One more man is sentenced to eighteen months in prison.[1]
For his part, Claude Sigala denounces Krief as a compulsive liar and pedophile, having fraudulently posed as a host at the Coral centre; he also evokes the possibility of a political conspiracy, which may target the "libertarian and self-managing lifestyle" of Coral[7]. One of the accused, Jean-Noël Bardy, acknowledges having had a "romantic relationship" with a resident of the Coral[8], and "sexual activities", specifying that "this sexual freedom was part of a new therapeutic". The investigation also reveals that a young man, arrested in 1977 for the rape and murder of a resident of the Coral, returned, after a stay in a psychiatric hospital, to stay at the scene of his crime with the agreement of Claude Sigala.[8]
References
- ↑ a b c https://www.greffiernoir.com/retour-sur-l-affaire-du-coral-1
- ↑ a b c http://referentiel.nouvelobs.com/archives_pdf/OBS0938_19821030/OBS0938_19821030_074.pdf
- ↑ http://archive.today/2024.01.12-210620/https://www.greffiernoir.com/retour-sur-l-affaire-du-coral-1 , 1997
- ↑ Frédéric Martel, Le rose et le noir: les homosexuels en France depuis 1968, Seuil, 2000, page 248
- ↑ https://www.greffiernoir.com/retour-sur-l-affaire-du-coral-1
- ↑ Gabriel Matzneff, Mes amours décomposés : journal 1983-1984, Gallimard, 1990, page 78
- ↑ http://www.monde-libertaire.fr/education/item/13576
- ↑ a b http://referentiel.nouvelobs.com/archives_pdf/OBS0938_19821030/OBS0938_19821030_076.pdf
