Europe 1 with AFP 3:41 p.m., July 01, 2022

The Assize Court of the North pronounced Friday a maximum sentence of 20 years of criminal imprisonment, with security of two thirds, against Dino Scala, the "rapist of the Sambre", tried for 56 rapes and sexual assaults.

The Assize Court of the North pronounced Friday a maximum sentence of 20 years of criminal imprisonment, with security of two thirds, against Dino Scala, the "rapist of the Sambre", tried for 56 rapes and sexual assaults.

This sentence is in line with that required Thursday by the prosecution.

The accused, 61, was on trial for 17 rapes, 12 attempted rapes and 27 assaults or attempted sexual assaults, committed between 1988 and 2018 near his home, around the Sambre, a river crossing the Franco-Belgian border.