The former pastor of My Gospel church was charged with 14 offences, including “sexual assault, rape with abuse of authority, coercion, and other offences”. Around 50 victims are being supported, according to sources.
Non-representative image of a pastor speaking at a church event. / Photo: [link]Will Kell[/link], Unsplash CC0.
Matthieu Koumarianos, former pastor of My Gospel church in Paris, was taken into police custody on 4 November and placed in pre-trial detention on 6 November, after the courts deemed his profile to be of concern, reported the French newspaper Réforme.
The lawyer representing five of the victims, told Réforme that several complaints have been filed by women and men for “sexual assault, rape with abuse of authority, coercion, and other offences”.
After being brought before an investigating judge, the pastor was charged with 14 offences. Koumarianos was then referred to a liberty and custody judge and remained in custody.
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The former pastor and choir director was dismissed in December 2024 by the council of My Gospel church church and its union of churches, for “serious moral misconduct” over a decade.
Two weeks later, the church, which was a member of the National Council of Evangelicals of France (CNEF), was disolved, with its social media accounts and website deleted.
Right after the dismissal, the CNEF encouraged “anyone who may have been subjected to the actions of Koumarianos”, to “disclose the facts to ‘Stop Abus’, the police or Miviludes [a state platform against sectarian abuses], and begin a process of restoration”.
According to institutional sources, Miviludes and the Stop Abus association are supporting around 50 victims in their legal and psychological proceedings.
‘Stop Abus’ is an initiative launched by the CNEF in 2022 to prevent such cases in evangelical churches. It has been taken up as a national project by all its members and offers the possibility of anonymous reporting and psychological and legal support.
The CNEF offers abuse prevention materials on its website, including a 44-page guide to combating sexual abuse in churches.
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