A former surgeon is set to stand trial in France on Monday, accused of raping or sexually abusing 299 victims, most of them children who were his patients. Investigators and his own notebooks describe a pattern of abuse spanning more than three decades.
Joël Le Scouarnec, 74, faces a four-month trial in Vannes, Brittany, where he will confront hundreds of victims. If convicted, he could receive up to 20 years in prison, in addition to the 15-year sentence he has been serving since 2020 after being found guilty of raping and sexually assaulting children.
While he does not deny the allegations, Le Scouarnec claims he does not remember all of the incidents. Some victims also have no memory of the assaults, as they were unconscious at the time.
The trial is taking place amid growing efforts by activists to expose and challenge long-standing taboos surrounding sexual abuse in France. The case follows the high-profile conviction of Gisèle Pélicot’s ex-husband and dozens of other men, who were sentenced in December to prison terms ranging from three to 20 years for drugging and raping her.
Child protection groups, women’s rights organizations, and medical associations have called for a demonstration outside the courthouse as the trial begins.
Le Scouarnec was first investigated in 2017 after a six-year-old neighbor accused him of inappropriate touching over the fence of their properties. A subsequent search of his home led to the discovery of over 300,000 photos, 650 pedophilic, zoophilic, and scatological video files, and detailed notebooks where he described himself as a pedophile and documented his crimes, according to investigators.
In 2020, he was convicted of raping and sexually assaulting four children, including two of his nieces, and sentenced to 15 years in prison. While he admitted to abuse dating back to 1985-1986, some cases could not be prosecuted due to the statute of limitations.
The current trial will examine allegations of rape and sexual abuse committed between 1989 and 2014 against 158 men and 141 women, who were on average 11 years old at the time. Investigators say the surgeon assaulted both boys and girls while they were alone in their hospital rooms.
One of the victims, Amélie Lévêque, recalled being hospitalized at age 9 in 1991, describing Le Scouarnec as a cruel surgeon. “I didn’t really remember the operation. I remembered the post-operation, a surgeon who was quite mean. I cried a lot,” she said.
Years later, she was shocked to find her name in his notebooks. “That was the beginning of the answers to a lifetime of questions, and then it was the beginning of the descent into hell,” she told public broadcaster France 3. “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 described falling into a deep depression, feeling completely alone despite support from her family.
Le Scouarnec’s lawyer, Thibaut Kurzawa, told *Sud-Ouest* newspaper that his client will “answer the judges’ questions” and has decided “to face up to reality.”
Despite a 2005 conviction for possessing and importing child sexual abuse material—resulting in a suspended four-month prison sentence—Le Scouarnec was appointed as a hospital practitioner the following year.
Several child protection organizations have joined the case as civil parties, seeking stronger legal safeguards to prevent future abuse.
