The double gold medalist, 32-year-old Nicolas Peifer, was tried on Monday in Sarreguemines (Moselle) for “sexual proposal made to a minor under 15 by electronic means”. But the prosecution requested a reclassification in facts of “sexual harassment”, said his lawyer Maître Martial Gagneux.
The prosecutor’s office on Monday requested a six-month suspended prison sentence for sexual harassment of a minor under the age of 15 against Olympic wheelchair tennis champion Nicolas Peifer. The hearing took place behind closed doors, and Nicolas Peifer “provided justice with all the explanations he felt he had to provide”, added his lawyer, according to whom “the criminal offense” does not exist, although his client admitted having exchanged messages with the victim, a civil party to the trial.
“It is estimated that he has not committed any criminal offense because he has never made the slightest sexual proposal to a girl under the age of 15”, underlined his lawyer, acknowledging that there was however “ exchanges of messages” between 2016 and 2018 between his client and the victim. “We are calmly awaiting the court decision,” he added.
Originally from Sarreguemines, Nicolas Peifer won gold in doubles at the Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro in 2016, then at those of Tokyo-2020, which were held in August 2021 because of the Covid-19 pandemic, the two times alongside Stéphane Houdet.
Judgment was reserved for December 5.