Haitian former minister accused of rape
A former student has filed a rape complaint against a Haitian ex-minister of youth and sports, a court document obtained by AFP on Wednesday said.
The complaint accuses Evans Lescouflair, who was minister from 2008 to 2011, of violently and repeatedly raping Claude-Alix Bertrand in the 1980s when the latter was 11 years old.
Lescouflair, a physical education teacher, used psychological pressure and threats to force Bertrand to undress after class and then sexually touched him, with the attacks later escalating to rape, says the six-page document, which was filed on Tuesday.
The alleged abuse began when Bertrand was a student at the Saint-Louis de Gonzague school, a Catholic private school for boys in Port-au-Prince. It continued at the home of Lescouflair, who offered to help the student after his removal from the school on a medical recommendation.
Bertrand, who became a UNESCO ambassador for Haiti's tourism and sports sector and now lives in California, publicly discussed the issue for the first time in an online video in March.
The Haitian penal code provides for life imprisonment for those convicted of raping minors under the age of 15.
According to AFP Lescouflair did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
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