Can you give us more info on the people involved? Are they French or immigrants?
Coverage in an Australian paper
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,12435785%255E1702,00.html
I haven't seen or read anything about the suspects' nationality. They were all from a low to very low income background, living mainly from welfare, so they could be both poor French nationals and/or immigrants.
Apparently the group that begun these acts was 40 to 45 strong, and while most of them have confessed - no point in denying given the tapes and other damning evidence and testimonies - they all say they began their horrific sex games at the behest of three or four people among them, who saw this as a way to satisfy their horrible urges and raise money out of it.
No cover-up here, guys. The trial is about to begin, the suspects confessed, and the Justice Minister made public declarations about the grave and heinous character of the crime. If he was to propose a popular vote to re-establish the death penalty for pedophiles now, he would probably carry it. I doubt he will, because the death penalty has become something of a political taboo in every Western country, but I know I would vote for it twice if I could.