A major criminal trial opened in Vannes, western France, on February 24, 2025, with former surgeon Joël Le Scouarnec accused of raping or sexually assaulting 299 people over a 25-year period. Most of those involved were his former patients and were minors at the time of the offenses.
Le Scouarnec, then 74, told the court at the start of the proceedings that he had committed "heinous acts." The case would develop significantly over the following three months: he ultimately acknowledged responsibility for the offenses involving all 299 people, and the Morbihan criminal court convicted him in May 2025.
A Trial Involving 299 Victims
The charges covered offenses committed between 1989 and 2014 at hospitals and clinics where Le Scouarnec worked in western France. The victims' average age was about 11, and many were patients who were sedated, anesthetized or recovering from medical procedures when the abuse occurred.
At the opening of the trial, Le Scouarnec said he owed it to those he had harmed to take responsibility for his actions and their consequences. His lawyer, Maxime Tessier, told the court that his client intended to answer questions rather than remain silent.
The proceedings required exceptional logistical arrangements because of the number of victims, relatives, lawyers, journalists and members of the public involved. Additional rooms near the courthouse were used to relay the hearings, while some testimony was heard behind closed doors at the request of victims.
How Investigators Uncovered the Scale of the Abuse
Le Scouarnec had already faced criminal proceedings before the 2025 trial. In 2005, he was convicted of possessing child sexual abuse material but was nevertheless able to continue practicing medicine.
His arrest in 2017 followed an allegation involving a young girl who lived near him. Investigators subsequently found extensive diaries and computer records in which he had documented abuse and identified numerous people.
Those records became central to the investigation. They allowed police to identify former patients across the regions where he had practiced. Some people contacted by investigators had little or no conscious memory of what had happened to them, including patients who had been sedated or anesthetized.
In 2020, Le Scouarnec was sentenced to 15 years in prison after being convicted of raping or sexually assaulting four minors. The much larger investigation generated the case that went to trial in Vannes in 2025.
Le Scouarnec Later Admitted All 299 Cases
Although Le Scouarnec's statements at the beginning of the trial did not amount to an immediate admission of every charge, his position changed as the proceedings continued. By the end of the trial, he had acknowledged the offenses involving all 299 victims.
The court ultimately found him guilty of 111 rapes and 188 sexual assaults committed between 1989 and 2014.
The case also prompted scrutiny of how Le Scouarnec had been able to continue working with patients after his earlier conviction and despite concerns that emerged during his medical career. Victims and their representatives called for greater examination of the institutional failures that allowed the abuse to continue for so long.
May 2025 Verdict: Maximum 20-Year Sentence
On May 28, 2025, after approximately three months of hearings, the Morbihan criminal court sentenced Le Scouarnec to 20 years in prison, the maximum sentence available to the court for the offenses at issue. The sentence included a security period covering two-thirds of the term.
The court also imposed a 15-year period of socio-judicial supervision and permanently prohibited him from practicing medicine or working in activities involving minors.
The verdict marked the conclusion of the 299-victim trial, but not the end of the broader investigation into Le Scouarnec's conduct.
Further Allegations Under Investigation in 2026
In August 2026, prosecutors in Lorient announced a new judicial investigation concerning additional alleged offenses that were not part of the 2025 conviction.
According to the Lorient prosecutor's office, the new proceeding concerns 40 alleged sexual assaults and 10 alleged rapes involving 48 people. Prosecutors said the non-time-barred allegations date from 1987 to 2017 and emerged through additional complaints and information identified or confirmed during the earlier trial.
These allegations remain the subject of an investigation and are legally separate from the offenses for which Le Scouarnec was convicted in May 2025.
The case has become one of the most extensive child sexual abuse proceedings ever tried in France, raising continuing questions not only about the crimes themselves but also about the safeguards and institutional responses that failed to prevent a convicted doctor from continuing to work with vulnerable patients.
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