French newspaper Le Figaro reported on Monday that the Bayonne prosecutor's office had launched an investigation after more than 10 students, who studied at the school between 1960 and 2005, filed complaints alleging sexual and physical violence on April 10.
Gilles Baran, a spokesman for the student victims, said the case of the Betharam Catholic School, which had previously made headlines following allegations of sexual assault in France, was the impetus for them to file complaints.
This investigation is part of a series of similar investigations that began last year. In 2024, the French Public Prosecutor's Office launched an investigation into allegations of violence and sexual assault at the private school Notre-Dame-de-Bétharam between 1960 and 2011, after receiving complaints from 112 former students.
On February 19, French authorities arrested three former employees of the Betharam School, aged between 59 and 93.
