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The former mentor of French football star Antoine Griezmann was sentenced to six years in prison on Tuesday for sexually assaulting minors. Eric Olhats, 62, was accused by six men of committing these acts between 1997 and 2002, and again in 2021 and 2022. The incidents occurred when all the plaintiffs, who were under 15 years old at the time, were footballers at Aviron Bayonnais FC. Griezmann was not among the plaintiffs and informed investigators that he neither experienced nor witnessed any such incidents. The court in Bayonne, southern France, also imposed five years of judicial supervision and mandatory treatment for Olhats, a former scout for the Spanish side Real Sociedad. Olhats was ordered to pay 30,000 euros ($34,482) in damages to the plaintiffs and was banned from entering sports venues or engaging in activities involving minors. He denied the charges, stating, “they have not told the truth as it happened,” after hearing the evidence and some of the plaintiffs’ testimonies. Caroline Parizel from the prosecutor’s office had requested an eight-year prison term, arguing that Olhats “gradually established a ‘hold’, becoming ‘omnipresent’ in the lives of these teenagers”. The plaintiffs described Olhats touching their legs or backs during car journeys, forced masturbation, and inappropriate texts sent while he was their manager. Their lawyers criticised Olhats’s “stubborn denial” and refusal to apologise for his actions. Olhats is best known for scouting Griezmann and served as his sports adviser until 2017. He had previously received a one-year suspended prison sentence in 1991 for indecent assault on a minor in western France. (With inputs from Agencies)
