Gisèle Pelicot ‘inspired’ victims in France’s largest child abuse trial to testify publically

Victims who were allegedly raped and abused by a former surgeon in France have been inspired by Gisèle Pelicot to testify publically in what will be the country’s largest-ever child abuse trial, according to her lawyer.

Joel Le Scouarnec, 73, stands accused of assaulting or raping 299 people over 25 years, allegedly targeting his child patients while working in Brittany. His four-month trial is set to begin on Monday.

Ms Pelicot’s lawyer Stéphane Babonneau told The Independent he believes the example of his client inspired Le Scouarnec’s alleged victims after she waived her anonymity for the trial of her now-ex-husband and 50 other men who were all convicted of raping or sexually assaulting her.

The 72-year-old Ms Pelicot, who has become a symbol of the struggle against sexual violence, opted to have her case heard in public, embodying her powerful message that it is the perpetrators, not the victims, who should feel shame for sexual crimes.

She sat across from her ex Dominique Pelicot in the courtroom in Avignon, France, every day of the gruelling three-month trial, after he had drugged her and invited other men to join him in unfathomable sexual abuse over the course of a decade.

Mr Babonneau said he had been told many of the complainants in the upcoming mass child abuse case in France – a large number of whom are claimed to have been under anaesthetic when they were attacked, in further echoes of Ms Pelicot’s case – are choosing to have public hearings, in contrast to the standard closed nature of hearings in sexual offence cases.

He credited his client’s bravery for inspiring them, telling The Independent: “It became a statement: ‘I want these things to be known.’”

Spokespeople for the appeals court in Rennes overseeing the case confirmed to The Independent that some of the civil parties in the case have expressed the wish to testify publicly.

They said the specific number cannot be provided because it is subject to change, but ahead of the trial, only eight of the 75 scheduled hearing days have been designated for closed-hearing testimonies.

They added that each alleged victim can decide on the scope of the closed session and that the reasons behind each complainant’s decision is a private matter.

Le Scouarnec, a once-respected surgeon, worked in regions across France and is accused of detailing his rapes and assaults – and naming his victims – in diaries discovered when his home was searched in 2017.

Prosecutors say he has admitted to investigators many but not all of the accusations he faces in the upcoming trial in the Breton town of Vannes, northwest France. His lawyers declined to comment ahead of the trial.

In 2020, he was sentenced to 15 years behind bars for the rape and sexual assault of four minors – including two of his nieces.

In May 2017, the former surgeon was brought to the attention of French authorities for the first time after his six-year-old neighbour in Jonzac, southwestern France, told her mother that Le Scouarnec exposed himself and molested her over the fence.

A thorough search of Le Scouarnec’s home followed. Officers said they discovered detailed diaries chronologically listing and naming his alleged victims over decades, disclosing the assaults which he had allegedly committed or wanted to commit across the several hospitals he had worked in, including in Loches, Vannes, Lorient, Quimperlé, and Jonzac.

Police also said they found 300,000 images of alleged child abuse images and pornography as they searched his home.

Le Scouarnec has claimed his diaries, which in multiple cases stated “I am a paedophile”, only detailed his “fantasies”.

After he was imprisoned in 2020 over the rape and sexual assault of the four minors including his child neighbour, the investigation continued into the alleged victims logged on his files.

Prosecutors eventually charged him with the aggravated rape and sexual assault of 299 people. He now faces up to 20 years in prison. Le Scouarnec’s trial is due to open on 24 February and to run until June.

The trial comes at a time of reckoning around sex crimes in France, just weeks after Ms Pelicot’s abusers were sentenced in the mass rape trial in France that shocked the world.

Just two months ago, in December, a panel of professional judges found 47 of the defendants in her case guilty of rape, two of attempted rape and two of sexual assault – and they were all jailed for a total of 428 years.

It was a case that resonated around the globe after Ms Pelicot stood up in court and told the world: “It’s not for us to have shame – it’s for them.” The statement was to become the slogan of the case, which sparked global conversations on sexual violence and rape culture.

Mr Babonneau said the real-world impact of Ms Pelicot’s bravery is already being felt, as a rise in alleged victims of sexual offences waiving their anonymity is seen – the upcoming mass child abuse trial being a high profile example.