France’s prime minister was under increasing pressure on Friday after a former teacher at a Catholic school claimed Francois Bayrou was aware of claims of sexual abuse of young boys there in the 1990s but did not act on them.
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The embattled prime minister has in recent days faced accusations from the opposition that he knew of widespread physical and sexual abuse at a Catholic boarding school to which he sent several of his children.
Prosecutors have been investigating around 100 complaints of alleged violence, sexual assault and rape committed at the Notre-Dame de Betharram school in southwestern France over several decades.
Bayrou, who served as the country’s education minister between 1993 and 1997, has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.
On Thursday, a former teacher at the boarding school told French investigative website Mediapart that Bayrou, 73, and his wife, who taught religious studies there, had ignored her warnings about the “systemic violence” against the boarders.
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Francoise Gullung taught mathematics at the school between 1994 and 1996, Mediapart said.