France is on the verge of commencing its most extensive child sex abuse trial to date. Although only one man is standing trial — a former surgeon accused of raping or sexually abusing 299 individuals, with the majority being child patients — activists are optimistic that the trial will provide strength to other victims and help unveil additional offenders who have long been shielded by societal norms.

Central to the trial are defendant Joël Le Scouarnec’s chillingly detailed notebooks, which he used to document decades of sexual violence.

The trial in Vannes, located in the Brittany region in northwestern France, will span four months, during which Le Scouarnec, now 74, will confront numerous victims. He does not contest the allegations, although he claims to have gaps in his memory regarding the incidents.

Some survivors have no memory of the assaults, having been unconscious at the time to undergo surgery at Le Scouarnec’s hands.

As efforts to shatter the taboos associated with sexual abuse gain momentum, the trial assumes significance. This momentum was underscored in a recent case where Gisèle Pélicot, a victim drugged and assaulted by her former spouse and many others, emerged as a prominent figure in France’s battle against sexual violence.

Child protection and women’s rights groups and medical community associations see the trial as an opportunity to reaffirm that shame must change sides.

“It should also mark a new step towards a justice system that listens and protects victims and firmly convicts aggressors,” they said in a statement.

The abuse dated back decades

Le Scouarnec faces up to 20 years in prison for rape, sexual assault and indecent acts committed with violence or surprise.

The case began in 2017 when a 6-year-old neighbor denounced Le Scouarnec, who had touched her over the fence separating their properties.

A subsequent search of his home uncovered more than 300,000 photos, 650 pedopornographic, zoophilic and scatological video files, as well as notebooks where he described himself as a pedophile and detailed his actions, according to investigation documents.

In 2020, Le Scouarnec was sentenced to 15 years in prison for the rape and sexual assault of four children, including two nieces and a young patient.

Le Scouarnec has admitted child abuse dating back to 1985-1986, according to investigation documents. Some cases couldn’t be prosecuted, because the statute of limitations had expired.

The Vannes trial will examine rapes and other abuses committed from 1989 to 2014 on 158 men and 141 women who were age 11 on average at the time.

Victims were stunned about what had happened

The doctor sexually abused both boys and girls when they were alone in their hospital rooms, according to the investigation documents. His strategy was to disguise sexual violence as a medical act, targeting young patients who were less likely to recall what had happened.

“I didn’t really remember the operation. I remembered the postoperation, a surgeon who was quite mean,” one of the victims, Amélie Lévêque, recalled of her time in the hospital at the age of 9 in 1991. “I cried a lot, but I didn’t think something like that had happened to me during this operation.”

Years later, she described feeling overwhelmed when she learned that her name appeared in Le Scouarnec’s notebooks.

“That was the beginning of the answers to a lifetime of questions, and then it was the beginning of the descent into hell as I left the lawyer’s office,” she said. “I felt like I had lost control of everything. I wasn’t crazy, but now I had to face the truth of what had happened.”

She also described the emotional toll of the revelation.

“I fell into a deep depression … My family tried to help, but I felt completely alone,” she said.

The Associated Press doesn’t name people who say they were sexually assaulted unless they consent to being identified or decide to tell their stories publicly.

Le Scouarnec’s lawyer, Thibaut Kurzawa, told Sud-Ouest newspaper that his client would “answer the judges’ questions” as he decided “to face up to reality.”

Activists want this to be a societal wake-up call

The case could have come to light much earlier. Le Scouarnec had already been convicted in 2005 for possessing and importing child pornography and sentenced to four months of suspended prison time.

Despite this, he was appointed as a hospital practitioner the next year. Because of processing delays, the criminal record check requested by the Health Ministry at the time didn’t include any mention of his past offenses.

Even after being informed of his conviction, health authorities and hospital management didn’t pursue disciplinary action.

Some child protection groups joined the proceedings as civil parties. The lawyer for L’Enfant Bleu association, Jean-Christophe Boyer, said that one key purpose is “to do something, perhaps modify the legal framework … to prevent this kind of situation from happening again.”

The Independent Commission on Incest and Sexual Violence against Children urged a “major cultural change.”

“Child abuse careers are built, not by monsters, but by all witnesses’ successive silences,” it said in a statement. “It is each witness’ duty to take action, and especially each professional in a position of responsibility in a health, administrative or judicial institution.”