former FFT Vice-President Jean-Pierre Dartevelle returned to the meeting

Former vice-president of the French Tennis Federation (FFT) Jean-Pierre Dartevelle is sent back to court for rape, France Bleu Belfort-Montbéliard learned on Thursday, March 30 from the Montbéliard prosecutor’s office, confirming the information of the newspaper L’Equipe .

The former president of the Franche-Comté Tennis League will appeal this decision, France Bleu Belfort-Montbéliard also learned from a source familiar with the matter.

The victim was 17 at the time of the accident.

This decision of referral to the assizes was decided by an investigating judge, in compliance with the requests of the prosecution in February. The 72-year-old man is suspected by the courts of taking advantage of his hold on a 17-year-old player between 2016 and 2018.

Jean-Pierre Dartevelle was placed in police custody in September 2018, as part of an investigation into “corruption of a minor and sexual abuse of a minor over 15”. This player is now 22 years old.

In February 2017, he was one of three candidates to succeed Jean Gachassin at the helm of the FFT. He had been narrowly beaten by Bernard Giudicelli, president of the Corsica Tennis League, of whom Jean-Pierre Dartevelle had since been one of the opponents within the institution.