Yannick Agnel, former Olympic champion, referred for rape to the Haut-Rhin Criminal Court-Liberation
There will indeed be a trial for Yannick Agnel. The former Olympic swimming champion is referred for rape Before the Haut-Rhin Criminal Court, the Mulhouse public prosecutor announced this Thursday May 15.
The former champion, now 33 years old, « Was charged to the Departmental Criminal Court of Haut-Rhin » Heads of rape on a minor under the age of 15, specifies the prosecutor Nicolas Heitz. He is also prosecuted for sexual assault on the same supposed victim.
The swimmer is suspected of having had a relationship with the daughter of his coach of the time when he was hosted at home. He was 24 years old at the time of the alleged facts, she had only 13. He always pleaded a consented and in love relationship.
On the other hand, he benefited from a dismissal of sexual assault committed on a minor over 15 years of age concerning another person, said the prosecutor. Yannick Agnel remains presumed innocent and can appeal to this dismissal, added Nicolas Heitz. It is maintained under judicial supervision.
The referral order specifies that the facts occurred between December 31, 2015 and August 31, 2016 in different places: Mulhouse and the close municipality of Riedisheim, Thailand and Spain (in Tenerife and Sierra Nevada).
Last July, the swimmer, retired since 2016 and placed under judicial supervision, returned to Mulhouse, in the office of the investigating judge, for a confrontation he had wished, with his accuser, now 23 years old.
The investigation started in the summer of 2021 following the filing of complaints by Naomé Horter, the daughter of the former swimmer coach, Lionel Horter, and was entrusted by the public prosecutor to the Interdepartmental Police Service (SIPJ) of Mulhouse. It will have lasted almost three and a half years. The facts alleged against the double French Olympic champion would have been committed between January 1, 2016 and August 31, 2016.
And had led to the indictment of the swimmer five months later, on December 11, 2021. Recognizing a link, Yannick Agnel has always denied the grip he could have on the young woman by his aura and their age difference.
Yannick Agnel has one of the most beautiful records of French swimming: he was a double Olympic champion in London in 2012 on the 200 m freestyle and the 4×100 m relay, before being crowned world champion in these two disciplines in 2013.
Update at 12:02 p.m. with more context.
