French surgeon pedophile at trial for almost 300 patients abuse

Paris – a former French surgeon was to be tried on Monday accused of violating or sexually assaulting nearly 300 patients, most children and some of them unconscious at that time.

Joel Le Scuarnec, 74, is already in prison after being found guilty in 2020 that he abused four children, including two of his granddaughters.

In the last trial, he is facing statements that he has assaulted or raped 299 patients, many while waking up from the anesthetic or during post-ops, at a dozen hospitals between 1989 and 2014.

About 256 of the victims were under 15, with the youngest and oldest 70.

It was not known whether they will admit them to admit the accusations in the process in the western city of Vannes, which is likely to be a new shock for France.

The trial comes just two months after Dominique Pelicot was convicted of registering dozens of strangers to rape his strongly seduced wife, Gisele Pelicot, who has since divorced him and became a feminist hero for refusing to -refused to I either ashamed.

Like a movie, he has taken them out of the crimes, noting the names, ages and addresses of his victims and the nature of abuse.

In his notes, the doctor described as a “major pervert” and a “pedophile”.

“And I’m very happy about that,” he recorded.

The process will take place in public, but seven days of testimony from the victims who have been targeted while the minors will take place behind the closed doors.

If he is convicted, Scouarnec is facing a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. The French law does not allow the sentences to be adding together even when there are several victims.

“This is undoubtedly the largest case of sexual crime for children in France, or at least the case involving most sexually assaulted or raped victims,” ​​the French daily Le Figaro quoted a person familiar with the problem. .

– “Collective failure” –

The victims and lawyers of the child’s rights say that the case highlights the systemic deficiencies that allowed them to repeatedly commit sexual crimes.

The surgeon practiced for decades until retirement, despite a 2005 sentence for having sexual abusive images of children and colleagues who raise their concerns.

Le Scouarnec practiced in the western city of Lorient in Brittany in 2004, when the American FBI alerted the French authorities that he was among hundreds in France, who consulted images of sexual abuse with online children.