France prepares for trial of ex-surgeon accused of sexually abusing more than 300 minors
This trial is considered the largest pedophilia case in France's recent history.
Illustration of the accused during his first trial.
The trial against ex-surgeon Joël Le Scouarnec accused of the rape and sexual assault of 299 victims begins Feb. 24 in Vannes, France.
The trial, as reported by the Prosecutor's Office, "will have an estimated duration of about four months."
The case that again shakes French society by the barbarity of the acts of which Le Scouarnec is accused. Only a few months ago, the same country was shaken by the atrocities of the Pelicot case.
In late September, after four years of investigation, Joël Le Scouarnec, 74, was referred to the criminal court in Morbihan for a total of 300 crimes, committed against 299 victims during decades of medical practice in several hospitals.
He faces a maximum sentence of 20 years imprisonment.
Chronology of his life and events
- In 1983 his career starts as a surgeon in Loches and he subsequently works in several French hospitals.
- From 1989 to 2014, it is alleged that during this period he committed the sexual abuse and rape of nearly 300 patients, mostly minors.
- In 2004, the FBI informs French authorities that Le Scouarnec was part of a child pornography consumption network on the Internet.
- In 2005, he was sentenced to four months in prison with a suspended sentence for possession of child sexual abuse images, without receiving compulsory treatment or a ban on practicing his profession.
- In 2006, a colleague denunciates him to the Departmental Council of Doctors of Finisterre, but no significant action is taken against him.
- In December of that same year (2006), the College of Physicians has a meeting where 18 out of 19 doctors vote against sanctioning Le Scouarnec.
- In 2017, he was arrested after a neighbor reported that Le Scouarnec had raped her 6-year-old daughter. During the investigation they discovered notebooks with detailed descriptions of his abuse and a large amount of child pornographic material.
- In December 2020, he is sentenced to 15 years in prison for the rape and sexual assault of four minors, including his nieces.
- In 2024 it is announced that he will be tried in 2025 for the abuse and rape of 299 victims, most of them minors.
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