Former surgeon accused of pedophilia Joël Le Scouarnec must appear from November 30 to December 3 before the assizes of Charente-Maritime, where his trial started in March for a first part had been interrupted due to the Covid-19 crisis , several lawyers for civil parties said on Thursday. Joined by AFP, the lawyers, confirming information from the Parisian , however clarified that two civil party associations had asked for a postponement of the proceedings before the Assize Court in Saintes citing calendar difficulties.
Originally scheduled for March 13, 16 and 17, the trial of Joël Le Scouarnec, 69, for a first series of rapes and sexual assaults on four minor victims between 1989 and 2017, opened in camera before being interrupted on the 2nd day, due to the health crisis. The rescheduled trial in the fall will be longer, with an additional day of debate, as claimed by certain civil parties.
Suspected of hundreds of rapes and sexual assaults
According to several lawyers, the president of the court has not yet made known her position on a possible postponement. Me Yves Crespin, lawyer for the association The Voice of the Child, for his part justified it by invoking concomitance with other files, such as the trial on appeal of Fiona's parents in Lyon, which opens on December 1 and in which he is summoned. Me Francesca Satta, lawyer for the parents of the little girl who had denounced the surgeon in April 2017, for her part expressed her "refusal of any postponement", her clients, "main victims, being firmly opposed to it".
Incarcerated since his arrest in May 2017, he is also targeted in another investigation, still ongoing at the Lorient prosecution, on hundreds of rapes and potential assaults in 30 years of career in hospitals in the center and the west.