Docter
RealPoor Guru
Joined: 21 Oct 2002
Posts: 3420
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 Posted: 03/03/05 - 20:58 Post subject: France Opens Massive Pedophilia Trial
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http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=548064
WTF?!?!?!?!
| Quote: | ANGERS, France Mar 3, 2005 — France opened one of its most horrific trials Thursday, with 66 people accused of participating in a child f****r ring in which babies and children were allegedly raped, **** abused and prostituted by their parents for food and small sums of money.
The defendants, some facing up to life imprisonment, were brought before a court in Angers, western France, that was specially built to hold them all.
One by one, the 39 men and 27 women were asked to stand and give their age, occupation and address.
Investigators found that 45 children from 6 months to 14 years old were raped and **** abused from 1999 to 2002 by their parents or others who paid money or food. People who are thought to have worn masks while they raped the children are still feared to be at large.
"The children speak of one tattooed woman who is not in the defendants' dock," said Pascal Rouiller, a defense lawyer for five suspects.
The victims will not appear in court; their testimony has been videotaped.
Many of the defendants are from low-income households in the working class Saint-Leonard neighborhood of Angers, 165 miles southwest of Paris. Some were reportedly abused themselves as children
Three couples alleged to be at the heart of the ring lured their children and those of their relatives "to play doctor" with the adults, the newspaper Le Monde reported. One young girl was allegedly raped 45 times.
Psychological counseling was being offered to the jurors and the six judges to help them cope with sordid testimony expected from the trial, which is scheduled to last four months.
Defense lawyers planned to argue that government social workers, who worked with many of the suspects, failed in their responsibilities or turned a blind eye to signs of abuse.
Some of the defendants cited in the 420-page legal filing are illiterate and don't fully understand the charges against them, lawyers said.
In French trials, defendants do not plead guilty or innocent at the start of proceedings. But court officials said that about half of the accused had admitted their involvement in the alleged crimes during questioning.
Three people face life imprisonment if convicted of raping minors under age 15 and of active participation in the prostitution ring.
Another 36 people face up to 20 years in prison for similar charges
Nineteen face a maximum of either seven years or 10 years in prison for **** abuse and corrupting minors. The last eight defendants face three years imprisonment for allegedly failing to report the crimes.
"To my knowledge, we've never seen a criminal case of this magnitude in France," said Rouiller, the defense lawyer.
The shadow of another pedophilia trial in the northern town of Outreau last year hangs over the case. That trial exposed shortcomings of the justice system because some defendants were wrongly accused
The Angers case first became known in November 2000, when a 16-year-old girl alleged she had been raped by her mother's boyfriend and his brother. The men had already been convicted for **** violence. |
These parents need to be shot dead, IMHO.
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