Boss of top French Sciences Po university resigns over incest scandal rocking intellectual elite

The head of prestigious French university Sciences Po resigned on Tuesday over criticism of his handling of an incest scandal that has rocked the country’s intellectual elite.

Frédéric Mion’s resignation from the post of director of what is a hothouse for future top politicians and journalists came amid a raft of high-profile incest and sexual abuse cases in France.

A host of allegations appear to have been triggered by the publication of a book last month, La Familia Grande, in which author Camille Kouchner accused a top political expert and commentator, Olivier Duhamel, of sexually abusing a relative when he was a minor.

These sparked an outpouring of testimonies no social media under the hashtag #Metooinceste.

Mr Duhamel has denied the allegations but stepped down from his various academic posts. Paris prosecutors last month launched an investigation into “rape and sexual abuse by a person with authority over a...minor”.

Mr Mion first expressed shock and surprise at the incest allegations against Mr Duhamel - a former head of the organisation that runs the university - but later admitted he had been informed of the accusations in 2018 without investigating further.

The higher education ministry last month launched a probe into the school's handling of the affair.

Mr Mion said in a statement that if a provisional report from the investigation "confirms that no system of concerted silence or complacency existed within our establishment," it "nonetheless points to errors in judgement on my part in the treatment of the allegations... as well as inconsistencies in the way I expressed myself”.

Student unions expressed satisfaction at his resignation.

“I feel very relieved after six weeks of mobilisation and revelations about the backstory to the the ‘Mion-Duhamel’ affair, Luka, a student from the “Mion resign” student group told AFP.

“Sciences Po will be able to become a safer space to free up expression of victims of sexual violence,” he said.

The resignation came as a preliminary inquiry was launched in Toulouse and Grenoble over allegations of abuse of students and a “rape culture” at two other prestigious political sciences schools following a raft of allegations on social media under the hashtag #sciencesporcs.

France has been accused by some commentators as being slow to break longstanding taboos over sexual abuse and paedophilia.

However, those taboos appear to now be challenged on an almost daily basis with the launch of fresh investigations.

On Tuesday, French prosecutors said they had opened an investigation into accusations of child sexual assault against a prominent television producer and his husband.

The allegations concern Gerard Louvin, who has produced some of the most popular shows on French television over the last decades, and his husband Daniel Moyne, said Paris prosecutors.

The probe was initially opened in January after a complaint was filed by an individual named as Olivier A. over alleged assault when he was aged 15.

Two other separate complaints also alleging sexual assault by the couple have now been merged into this inquiry, prosecutors said.

Lawyer for Mr Louvin and Mr Moyne said they denied the allegations, calling them “mendacious” and part of an attempt to “blackmail” them into handing over €750,000.

On Wednesday, French cinema boss Dominique Boutonnat was detained for questioning over allegations of rape and sexual abuse.

Mr Boutonnat, who denies wrongdoing, is the head of the National Cinema Centre, CNC, which oversees the French film sector.

His lawyer Emmanuel Marsigny said he “contests having committed any crime whatsoever and is totally relaxed about the outcome of this legal procedure”.

Last week, prosecutors opened a preliminary inquiry into prominent cinema and stage actor Richard Berry over allegations of sexual abuse. In a statement on his social media channels, Mr Berry, 70, vehemently denied the allegations.

On Tuesday night, France’s justice minister Eric Dupond-Moretti, said he was “in favour” of changing French law to make any sexual intercourse between an adult and a minor under 15 a crime.

Currently, suspects can be acquitted or receive lenient sentences if they can prove there was consent. The minister said it was time to make such an act an automatic crime.

French society had reached a “turning point” and that “leads us to change the law”, said Mr Dupond-Moretti.

His comments came a day after protests across France in support of a woman allegedly raped by 20 firefighters when she was between 13 and 15 years old. The case of Julie - not her real name - was due to be examined in the country’s highest appeals court on Wednesday.

Lawyers were due to argue that all 20 firefighters, who were from various stations, should be charged with rape. Currently, only three men are charged with “sexual violation”.

The issue of consent came to the fore last year when publisher Vanessa Springora released Consent, a book in which she accused prize-winning writer Gabriel Matzneff of abusing her while she was a minor. She said she was under his sway even if she appeared to consent to their relationship.

Mr Matzneff has previously defended his relationship with Ms Springora as one of “beauty” and said he was unaware he had committed any crime.

He is due in court in September over charges of defending the practice of sex with children.