In the middle of a divorce, Amélie Mauresmo accuses her wife of harassment

The former French tennis player has initiated criminal proceedings. The prosecution requested ten months of suspended prison sentence against the defendant tried Tuesday in Bayonne.

Article written by France Info – With France Bleu Pays Basque

Radio France

Published on 01/24/2024 23:22 Updated on 01/25/2024 06:38

Reading time: 1 min Amélie Mauresmo, June 23, 2018 in Paris. (LUCAS BARIOULET / AFP)

In the midst of a divorce, former French tennis player Amélie Mauresmo accuses her wife, Marie-Bénédicte Hurel, of harassment, reports Wednesday January 24 France Bleu Pays Basque. She filed a complaint and became a civil party. The trial took place Tuesday at the Bayonne judicial court.

As a couple, with two children, in a house in Anglet since April 2014 and married since July 2021, the current director of the Roland-Garros tournament, took the initiative to divorce in 2023, reports France Bleu Pays Basque. Since then, according to Amélie Mauresmo, humiliations, blackmail and insults have punctuated her daily life, including by SMS. Sometimes to the point of taking refuge with his new partner.

According to Amélie Mauresmo’s defense, the defendant made denigrating and insulting remarks. What characterizes moral harassment. A total incapacity for work (ITT) of ten days was also prescribed to him, according to information from France Bleu Pays Basque. Marie-Bénédicte Hurel was placed in police custody at the Biarritz police station in September.

an “instrumentalization” according to Marie-Bénédicte Hurel’s lawyers

The defendant and her lawyers, Thierry Sagardoytho and Marie-Thérèse Hougneu, refute the accusations. According to Me Thierry Sagardoytho, “the contested text messages do not relate to harassment at all, but to a simple discussion on daily management.” As for verbal insults, “no one has heard such remarks”, continues the lawyer from Pau. He goes even further by denouncing a “instrumentalization of an artificial complaint in the perspective of divorce”. The defense pleads for acquittal.

The public prosecutor, Jean-Claude Belot, requested a ten-month suspended prison sentence for Marie-Bénédicte Hurel. The judgment will be pronounced on February 13.