Victims of Joël Le Scouarnec Received by Darmanin in Vannes, Around Fifty New Facts Under Investigation
Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin meets on Friday 21 August the collective of victims of surgeon Joël Le Scouarnec, sentenced to 20 years for 299 sexual assaults.
Darmanin faces victims of surgeon Le Scouarnec, around fifty new facts targeted
According to France Info, Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin met on Friday 21 August in Vannes, in Morbihan, with the collective of victims of Joël Le Scouarnec, a surgeon sentenced in spring 2025 to 20 years' imprisonment for rape and sexual assault against 299 people. A new judicial investigation has been opened into around fifty additional facts, which could lead to a fresh trial for the practitioner, aged 75.
Most of the victims were minors at the time of the acts, and were asleep on their operating table. The surgeon recorded every detail in notebooks, which bore the names of his victims — documents that formed a central piece of evidence in the investigation.
"Why communicate now?"
The spokesperson for the collective, Manon Lemoine, expressed reservations about the timing of this ministerial visit. Contacted the day before by France Info, she pointed to shortcomings in how the investigation was conducted and a lack of responsiveness from the minister. "There has been a lack of resources from the outset, since these victims were in the notebooks. Mr Darmanin is coming to Vannes tomorrow, will meet with us. Why communicate now when this judicial investigation has been open since March? I leave this question open," she declared.
The collective hopes that this meeting will result in concrete, substantive work, particularly on strengthening the resources allocated to the justice system in this type of case.
Colleagues who saw nothing
The surgeon's professional circle says it detected no suspicious signs over the years. "He was good at hiding it, all the same. You tell yourself: 'But I worked next to a predator and I didn't notice!'", a retired nurse who worked alongside Joël Le Scouarnec told France Info.
This revelation illustrates the extent of the concealment employed by the practitioner, whose acts spanned many years before an investigation was opened. The opening of a new judicial investigation into facts distinct from those already tried now reopens the proceedings.
Source: France Info