Sentences of up to six years' imprisonment were handed down on Wednesday by the Criminal Court in Châteauroux, France, to the main defendants convicted of violence against minors placed in families without authorisation.
A total of 18 people were on trial, but the heaviest sentences were imposed on the two heads of the network, Julien M., and Bruno C.
Julien M. was given a six-year prison term and a €20,000 fine, while Bruno C., already in prison, was sentenced to four years’ imprisonment and a €5,000 fine.
The two men were also on trial for bullying the teenagers. Their sentences were accompanied by deferred committal orders, which means the judge will set the start of their incarceration at a later date.
"This is a first step in the rehabilitation of the children," said Jean Sannier, the victims’ lawyer. "In the case of Julien M., the court followed the prosecution's demands, but the sentence for Bruno C. was much lower."
Victims tell of physical and psychological abuse, forced labour
The prosecution had requested seven years' imprisonment with a commitment order and a €20,000 fine for the pair.
Julien M.'s parents, Colette and Antoine, who were also alleged to have played key roles in the affair, received suspended prison sentences of ten and twelve months respectively, and fines of €10,000 and €20,000.
In response, the civil parties said they were mainly waiting to hear about damages, while one of the victims made no secret of her disappointment at the sentences handed down. "They're lucky," she said.
During a week of particularly trying hearings for the victims, some recounted having suffered physical and psychological violence, humiliation and forced labour.
A total of 18 defendants had appeared before the Criminal Court in Châteauroux to answer charges including violence, undeclared work in an organised gang, taking in minors without prior declaration, administering a harmful substance and forgery.
Unofficial 'care' agency raked in at least €630,000
The case was filed in 2017, after one of the children, Matthias, was hospitalised for "a fall while cycling." After a week in a coma, Matthias refused to return to his alleged torturer. A report was then made to the public prosecutor's office, which uncovered repeated acts committed since 2010.
For seven years, around sixty children had been illegally entrusted by the Children's Social Welfare Agency (ASE) in France's Nord Department to a care facility in the Indre region that did not have the necessary authorisation.
This organisation, ‘Enfance et Bien-Être’, run by Bruno C. and Julien M., is alleged to have received at least €630,000 by illegally placing these minors with families.
The other defendants, mainly families from the Indre, Creuse and Haute-Vienne regions who had taken in the minors without authorisation, were each fined €3,000, of which €1,500 was suspended.
"They all played a part, perhaps at the end of the chain, but they played a part," Deputy Prosecutor Amélie Trochet insisted in her closing arguments.
Complaint to be lodged against Children's Social Welfare Agency
During the debates in October, the victims, nine of whom attended the hearing, gave damning accounts of being "beaten," "strangled," humiliated and insulted.
Many of them, aged 12, 14 or 16 at the time, also reported "forced labour," and being "taken out of school" to work on renovation projects for the two main defendants.
The main defendants, led by Julien M. and his parents, sought to play down these accounts, referring to necessary "readjustments" and "slaps" for "difficult children" whom "nobody wanted."
The main absentee from the trial, according to the civil parties, was the Children's Social Welfare Agency, which was also at the centre of the debates, but none of its managers were prosecuted.
Mr. Sannier announced on Wednesday that a complaint would be lodged against the Children's Social Welfare Agency of Nord Department.
"We expect there to be a before and an after to this trial," he said. "The aim of this complaint is to denounce all the failings of the ASE."
