Gervasio Deferr, gymnast and two-time Olympic champion, has come forward against the accusations of sexual abuse during his time at the High Performance Center (CAR), defending his innocence and pointing out that he has “no more information” about the anonymous complaints.
Last Saturday the newspaper ‘El País’ published the accusation of a woman who reported having been raped in the CAR by the athlete when she was a minor. According to the information, there were two more victims, also minors, according to the same complainant, although the crimes had expired, so no complaint was filed.
After learning this information, the gymnast explained in a video uploaded to social networks that he has not received any communication “from any police station or court” informing him of the facts and that he only knows about the complaint that comes “from an anonymous law firm.” » with «a complainant and two other anonymous people as well» in which «they do not specify when, nor how, nor anything that happened. But they do dare to make those accusations about me.
“It seems that now I am suddenly everyone’s enemy here, and that is not the case,” Deferr said. «I have been working personally for a long time and I believe that I am a person who does not hide his problems or recognize his mistakes when he makes them. “I have spent my entire life recognizing my mistakes when I have made them and working to improve on them.”
In the video, the gymnast claims to be “calm” because he is “very clear” that he is innocent and conveys that he is not going to “recognize something that is not true.”
While thanking the expressions of support he has received, he settles the issue and explains that he will not speak further on the matter “until he has more information.”
Full statement from Gervasio Deferr
«I am making this statement after this Saturday I was accused of something very serious in a story that was published in the newspaper El País.
I don’t know why all this has come and no one has told me anything. From no police station or court, informing me that I have a complaint or something like that.
I know the same as all of you. That they report me from an anonymous law firm, an anonymous complainant, with two other anonymous people as well. They do not specify when, or how, or anything that happened. But they do dare to make those accusations about me.
I want to advocate the presumption of innocence. It seems that now I am everyone’s enemy and that is not the case.
I have been working personally for a long time and I believe that I am a person who does not hide his problems or recognize his mistakes when he makes them. I have spent my entire life recognizing my mistakes and working to improve on them.
What I cannot do is assume and recognize something that is not true.
From now on I will not make any more statements nor will I speak to anyone until I have more information. I really have no idea where this can come from.
What I do want to make very clear to you is that first I am innocent, and that is very clear to me. That’s why I’m calm.
And on the other hand, I want to thank you for the thousands and thousands of expressions of affection that I have received since the news came out until today. The support I have received has been overwhelming. Thank you, really. And trust me because everything will become clear.
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