sexual

Joel Le Scouarnec tells court he committed ‘despicable act’ in another mass rape case that shocks France.

A French court has sentenced a retired surgeon to 20 years in prison for raping or sexually abusing nearly 300 victims, many of them children under anaesthesia, over 25 years of his career in another case of years-long abuse that has rocked the nation.

The conviction and sentencing on Wednesday in the Brittany court capped what is widely seen as the worst case of abuse of children that has ever gone to trial in modern France.

It comes after 51 men were convicted of taking part in the decade-long mass rape of a woman, Gisele Pelicot, in southern France in what many advocates hoped would be a watershed #MeToo moment for those seeking justice against their abusers.

Throughout the most recent trial, 74-year-old Joel Le Scouarnec admitted to raping or sexually abusing 299 patients – including 256 victims under the age of 15 – as he worked in hospitals in western France.

The attacks took place from 1989 to 2014, many while his patients were under anaesthesia or waking up after operations. All told, Le Scouarnec was charged with 111 rapes and 189 sexual assaults in the case, which began in February.

Throughout the trial, Le Scouarnec told the court he committed “despicable acts”.

“I owe it to all these people and their loved ones to admit my actions and their consequences, which they’ve endured and will keep having to endure all their lives,” he said at one point.

Victims ‘will never forgive you, never’

But victims, lawyers and advocates who gathered at the courthouse throughout the trial and on Wednesday for the verdict said they put little stock in Le Scouarnec’s words of contrition.

“You are the worst mass paedophile who ever lived,” Thomas Delaby, one of about 60 lawyers representing the victims, said during the trial. He described Le Scouarnec as an “atomic bomb of paedophilia”.

Delaby told Le Scouarnec the victims “will never forgive you, never”.

Le Scouarnec had previously been convicted in 2020 for raping and sexually assaulting four children, including two of his nieces. He was already serving a 15-year sentence as the current trial played out.

The 20-year sentence is the maximum possible. In France, sentences are not served consecutively. In the United States, prosecutors noted, Le Scouarnec would have been sentenced to “2,000 years”.

Questions over public health system

The case has raised questions about France’s publicly run health system and how Le Scouarnec was able to act with impunity for so many years.

Advocates have demanded to know why he was allowed to continue working in public hospitals despite being convicted in 2005 of downloading images of child sexual abuse. At the time, he received a suspended jail sentence.

The extent of Le Scouarnec’s abuse was revealed only after his rearrest in 2017 on suspicion of raping his 6-year-old neighbour.  Police then discovered electronic diaries that appeared to document decades of abuse in painstaking detail.

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

“And I am very happy about it,” he wrote.

Wednesday’s verdict was handed down during what some hope will be a wider reckoning over sexual abuse in France and what some see as social mores that enable such crimes.

In December, a court in the southern French city of Avignon convicted 51 men of the years-long rape and sexual abuse of Pelicot, who refused to remain anonymous during the proceedings and whose clear-eyed testimony resonated among the French public.

“I’ve decided not to be ashamed, I’ve done nothing wrong,” she testified during the trial. “They are the ones who must be ashamed.”

Among those convicted was Pelicot’s ex-husband, 72-year-old Dominique Pelicot, who prosecutors said orchestrated the drugging and raping of his wife for nearly a decade.

International Criminal Court chief prosecutor Karim Khan notified the court Friday he will take a leave from his duties until an investigation into sexual misconduct allegations against him concludes. Khan (C) pictured announcing requested arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant May 20, 2024. File Photo by International Criminal Court (ICC)/ UPI. | License Photo

May 16 (UPI) — International Criminal Court chief prosecutor Karim Khan notified the court Friday he will take a leave from his duties until an investigation into sexual misconduct allegations against him concludes.

A female assistant, an attorney in her 30s, accused Khan of forced sexual intercourse multiple times in New York, Colombia, Congo, Chad and Paris as well as at Khan’s home at the Hague.

Khan’s defense lawyers called the allegations “categorically untrue.”

A spokesman for the ICC told the Wall Street Journal in an email that Khan “communicated…via email his decision to take leave” until the investigation is over.

Khan said in an email to staff “In light of escalating media reports, I have made the considered decision to take leave until the completion of the investigation.”

The U.N. Office of Internal Oversight Services is expected to issue a report on the investigation in coming months.

The Wall Street Journal and Drop Site News first reported the allegations. The female aide testified to United Nations investigators about the allegations.

Based on documents it has reviewed, the Washington Post reported that the allegations against Khan occurred over approximately a year.

It’s being investigated as part of an alleged pattern of abuse that also included sexual harassment and inappropriate touching.

PA Media

‘Evidence review’

‘Moral probity’

PARIS — French movie star Gérard Depardieu ’s fall from grace is now complete.

Depardieu further moved down from the pinnacle of French cinema Tuesday as he was found guilty of sexually assaulting two women on the set of a movie in which he starred in 2021 and given an 18-month suspended prison sentence. He was also fined a total of 29,040 euros (around $32,350), and the court requested that he be registered in the national sex offender database.

The actor, 76, has been convicted of having groped a 54-year-old set dresser and a 34-year-old assistant during the filming of “Les Volets Verts” (“The Green Shutters”). The case was widely seen as a key post-#MeToo test of how French society and its film industry address allegations of sexual misconduct involving prominent figures.

Depardieu, who has denied the accusations, didn’t attend the hearing in Paris. Depardieu’s lawyer, Jérémie Assous, said that his client would appeal the decision.

“It is the victory of two women, but it is the victory of all the women beyond this trial,” said Carine Durrieu Diebolt, the set dresser’s lawyer. “Today we hope to see the end of impunity for an artist in the world of cinema. I think that with this decision we can no longer say that he is not a sexual abuser. And today, as the Cannes Film Festival opens, I’d like the film world to spare a thought for Gérard Depardieu’s victims.”

Accused by more than 20 women

Depardieu’s long and storied career — he told the court that he’s made more than 250 films — has turned him into a French movie giant. He was Oscar-nominated in 1991 for his performance as the swordsman and poet Cyrano de Bergerac.

In recent years, the actor has been accused publicly or in formal complaints of misconduct by more than 20 women, but so far only the sexual assault case has proceeded to court. Some other cases were dropped because of a lack of evidence or the statute of limitations.

During the four-day trial in March, Depardieu rejected the accusations, saying he’s “not like that.” He acknowledged that he had used vulgar and sexualized language on the film set and that he grabbed the set dresser’s hips during an argument, but denied that his behavior was sexual.

The court, composed of a panel of three judges, concluded that Depardieu’s explanations in court were “unpersuasive” and “not credible” and stressed both accusers’ “constant, reiterated and substantiated declarations.”

The court also said that both plaintiffs have been faced with an “aggressive” defense strategy “based on comments meant to offend them.” The judges therefore considered that Depardieu’s lawyer comments in court aggravated the harm to the accusers and justified higher fines.

The two accusers testified in court

The set dresser described the alleged assault, saying the actor pincered her between his legs as she squeezed past him in a narrow corridor.

She said he grabbed her hips then started “palpating” her behind and “in front, around.” She ran her hands near her buttocks, hips and pubic area to show what she allegedly experienced. She said he then grabbed her chest.

The woman also testified that Depardieu used an obscene expression to ask her to touch his penis and suggested he wanted to rape her. She told the court that the actor’s calm and cooperative attitude during the trial bore no resemblance to his behavior at work.

The other plaintiff, an assistant, said that Depardieu groped her buttocks and her breasts during three separate incidents on the film set.

The Associated Press doesn’t identify by name people who say they were sexually assaulted unless they consent to be named. Neither women has done so in this case.

“I’m very moved,” one of the plaintiffs, the set dresser, told reporters after the verdict. “I’m very very much satisfied with the decision, that’s a victory for me, really, and a big progress, a step forward. I feel justice was made.”

Some expressed support for Depardieu

Some figures in the French cinema world have expressed their support for Depardieu. Actors Vincent Perez and Fanny Ardant were among those who took seats on his side of the courtroom.

French media reported last week that Depardieu was shooting a film directed by Ardant in the Azores archipelago, in Portugal.

The actor may have to face other legal proceedings soon.

In 2018, actor Charlotte Arnould accused him of raping her at his home. That case is still active, and in August 2024 prosecutors requested that it go to trial.

For more than a half-century, Depardieu stood as a towering figure in French cinema, a titan known for his commanding physical presence, instinct, sensibility and remarkable versatility.

A bon vivant who overcame a speech impediment and a turbulent youth, Depardieu rose to prominence in the 1970s and became one of France’s most prolific and acclaimed actors, portraying a vast array of characters, from volatile outsiders to deeply introspective figures.

In recent years, his behavior toward women has come under renewed scrutiny, including after a documentary showed him repeatedly making obscene remarks and gestures during a 2018 trip to North Korea.

Corbet writes for the Associated Press. Samuel Petrequin contributed to this report.

May 13 (UPI) — French actor Gerard Depardieu was found guilty Tuesday of sexually assaulting two women during a film shoot.

The 76-year-old actor was convicted in a Paris courtroom although he was not present at the time as he was working on a film set located in the Azores. He received a suspended jail term of 18 months, was ordered to compensate each victim around $1100 and was also placed on a sex offenders list.

The allegations against him came from incidents on the film production set for the movie Les Volets Verts in 2021, as two women on the shoot accused Depardieu of groping them.

Attorney Carine Durrieu-Diebolt, who represented both victims, told the press she hoped that “with this verdict, no one can say Gerard Depardieu is not a sexual predator, and that’s very important.”

Depardieu’s trial was seen as a critical juncture for the French film industry, which has been considered to be especially slow and hesitant toward taking women’s claims of abuse seriously. A parliamentary report by French politicians determined last month that sexual harassment and violence were “endemic” in France’s entertainment industry, and that both children and women were being actively victimized.

Depardieu has denied the allegations against him and his attorney said he will appeal the verdict.

Depardieu is put on the sex offenders list and receives a suspended sentence for groping the women on a film set.

A French court has handed down an 18-month suspended sentence to actor Gerard Depardieu after finding him guilty of sexually assaulting two women on a film set in 2021.

The Paris court announced on Tuesday morning that Depardieu, the 76-year-old who did not attend court for the verdict, would be placed on the sex offenders list.

In one of the country’s highest-profile Me Too cases, Depardieu, a prominent figure of French cinema who has acted in more than 200 films and television series, has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.

The trial relates to charges of sexual assault during the filming in 2021 of Les Volets Verts (The Green Shutters) directed by Jean Becker.

One of the two plaintiffs, Amelie K, a 54-year-old set decorator, told the court that Depardieu had groped her as he trapped her between his legs and made explicit sexual comments.

“He touched everything, including my breasts,” she said, adding: “I was terrified, he was laughing.”

The second witness, a 34-year-old assistant director who was unnamed, said Depardieu initially assaulted her when she accompanied him from his dressing room to the set.

“It was nighttime … he put his hand on my buttocks,” she said, adding that the actor assaulted her on two other occasions.

Judge Thierry Donard said the actor’s explanation of the events had been unconvincing.

“I’m vulgar, rude, foul-mouthed, I’ll accept that,” Depardieu told the court, but added: “I don’t touch.”

“I adore women and femininity,” he also said, describing the Me Too movement as a “reign of terror”.

Depardieu also argued before the court that he did not consider placing a hand on a person’s bottom to be sexual assault and that some women were too easily shocked.

Amelie K’s lawyer described Tuesday’s ruling as a “beautiful decision” that gave recognition to Depardieu’s victims.

After the sentencing, Depardieu’s lawyer said they would appeal the court decision.

In recent years, the French actor has faced a growing number of sexual assault allegations, with about 20 women coming forward with accusations, but this case was the first to go to court.

The Me Too movement came to prominence in 2017 for people to share their experiences of sexual abuse and sexual harassment by influential figures.