In the office of the examining magistrate, this November 30, 2022, Ludovic Pouillart does not hide his astonishment. The administrative investigation carried out against him has, it seems, never succeeded. In any case, he assures the magistrate, he has never been contacted since his appointment with the Youth and Sport service of Bas-Rhin, attached to the Ministry of Sports. It was July 2021, a year and a half ago. “I was told that they would give me news within six months. They told me they could take away my diploma and since then, no news, no mail, nothing. “The facts of which he is accused are however far from trivial: as revealed recently 20 minutesthis basketball coach – who until recently coached the men’s team of the Orchies club (North) – was indicted during this hearing at the end of 2022 for “rape of a 15-year-old minor by a person abusing the authority that his function confers on him”.
The case dates back to 2002, when Ludovic Pouillart trained, in parallel with his career as a professional player, teenagers from the hope center of Caen. One of the players, Valérie L., filed a complaint against him, almost eighteen years later, in June 2020, for sexual abuse of a minor. She accuses him of having taken advantage of his young age to obtain sexual relations. “He said he was in love, that I was the woman of his life. I was 14 and a half. He insisted that I not tell anyone. He told me that if I talked about it, he would have problems, ”she told investigators. It was following this hearing that an administrative investigation was carried out, in parallel with the judicial investigations.
Short auditions… and then nothing
Ludovic Pouillart, who never ceased to deny the accusations brought against him, was the first to be heard by the administrative authorities. His summons arrived in his mailbox in June 2021: meeting on July 12, at the headquarters, in Strasbourg. The family vacation is slightly postponed so that he can go there. However, according to his statements in custody, the interview was not only short, but it did not relate solely to the case in question. “There were more cases of harassment in 2002,” he assured investigators in October 2021. Certainly, several clubs received anonymous letters relating to his working methods, but in the judicial investigation , no element relating to this question appears. Four months later, Valérie L. is in turn auditioned by the Youth and Sport service for almost an hour. She too has never had the slightest return.
And for good reason: according to the Ministry of Sports, two years after its opening, the administrative investigation is still under investigation. In parallel with the investigations, the prefect of the North decided on March 6, 2023 – i.e. 20 months after the hearing of Ludovic Pouillart – to take so-called “emergency” precautionary measures: a temporary ban on practicing with minors was finally issued for a period of 6 months, “which could possibly be extended taking into account the state of progress and the consequences of the criminal investigation”, specifies the prefecture.
Violaine Chabardes does not hide her astonishment at such delays. “Usually, these orders are taken very quickly, in the weeks – sometimes even the days – following the report. We absolutely do not follow judicial time, since we are not trying to establish guilt but the protection of possible victims. “This former police officer knows what she is talking about: she is at the head of the victim support center within the Colossus association with clay feet, specializing in sexual violence in the world of sport.
Why nearly two years before “emergency” measures?
How can we explain what looks like a form of inertia on the part of the administration in this case? Was it because at the time of Ludovic Pouillart’s summons before the Youth and Sport pole, the judicial information was then opened for an offense and not a crime, namely sexual assault on a minor? She will be requalified in January 2022 for rape of a minor by a person abusing her authority. And the coach indicted eleven months later. “I don’t think it’s linked,” says Violaine Chabardes. Sexual abuse is an offense serious enough for precautionary measures to be taken, this is confirmed in a large number of cases. Especially since no action was taken during the requalification or the indictment. Completely independently, the French Basketball Federation, for example, took precautionary measures during the indictment.
Why, then, did the administration wait another three months before taking these “emergency” measures? Hard to say. Working on the twists and turns of such an administrative investigation more or less amounts to seeking, like Asterix in the 12 Works, the A38 pass. Namely being dismissed from service to service. And find the door closed every time. What finally pushed the prefecture to take these precautionary measures which intervene, almost ironically, three days after the club in which he exercised suspended him? Without drawing any hasty conclusions, it is also surprising to note that this decree was taken less than 10 days after our revelations.
A file passed from service to service
Have new acts of investigation been carried out in the meantime, or is it simply linked to the fact that the file has traveled a lot? If the investigation was opened in Bas-Rhin, where Ludovic Pouillart lived at the time, it was transferred in March 2022 to Seine-Maritime, when he left Alsace to join the west of France . Nothing surprising in this: it is up to the department in which the respondent resides to deal with this type of file. Where was the investigation before this transfer? Impossible to say. In Strasbourg, the rectorate – because yes, to make things easier, the service has recently been under the control of the Ministry of Education – evades all questions, in particular those on the absence of precautionary measures.
In Seine-Maritime, we confirm lip service that the file has actually passed through their hands, but it is impossible to know more. Our incessant calls and texts will go unheeded. But Ludovic Pouillart only stayed a few months in this department before moving to the North. New file transfer, and even deafening silence. After three weeks of what could amount to harassment on our part, the prefecture ended up telling us that precautionary measures – mentioned above – had been taken. Impossible, however, to know more about the progress of the file. As for the Ministry of Sports, it refers… to the Northern prefecture. To believe that it is ultimately easier to find the A38 pass than to understand what happened in this administrative investigation.