They're rather selective in their enforcement aren't they.
Posted on 03/04/2005 8:59:43 AM PST by NormsRevenge
ANGERS, France (AP) - This town in western France, known for its medieval castle and Cointreau liqueur, now has a new, more sordid reputation - as the home of a pedophilia ring where parents allegedly raped, abused and pimped children and even babies.
Sixty-six people have gone on trial this week, but some residents still apparently refuse to accept that such crimes could be perpetrated in their midst.
"I've heard people say to me, 'But you know, these children were used to it.' It's the horror of horror," said Deputy Mayor Michelle Moreau.
The trial's second day Friday was devoted to presenting the more than 200 witnesses to the court. The trial is expected to last four months, but getting over the horror could take far longer in Angers.
"It is an ordeal," Moreau, who oversees policing for City Hall, said in an interview with The Associated Press.
Investigators say 45 children - aged from 6 months to 14 years - were abused by their parents or people close to them from 1999 to 2002, in some cases in exchange for small amounts of money, food, cigarettes or alcohol.
Some of the accused were abused themselves as children. Alcoholism, poverty and, defense lawyers claim, a failure of social workers to spot signs of abuse may have played a role. More than half of the accused, aged 27 to 73, were unemployed, living off benefits in state-supported housing. Some are said by their lawyers to be illiterate and Moreau said some were already known to police.
"But in all sincerity, I never imagined that they were involved in pedophilia," she said. "I do not know how to explain what happened."
Angers, a historic town of 156,000 people, sits on a bend of the Loire River, 165 miles southwest of Paris. Confectioner Adolphe Cointreau and his brother Edouard-Jean created their famous orange-flavored spirit here in 1849. Angers' 13th-century castle is a well-known landmark.
The town is not without its difficulties. Moreau said nearly one-third of Angers' housing is state-supported for low-income families - higher than in nearby Nantes or Le Mans. But the deputy mayor said hardship does not explain away the alleged abuse.
"One must be cautious," she said. Most of the thousands of people in Angers who live in state-funded housing "do not behave in a criminal fashion."
Neighboring Belgium has also been rocked by pedophilia scandals. Government figures in France do not show sharp increases in convictions for child rape or abuse.
Instead, experts say investigators, courts, professionals and the media are getting better at exposing a problem that has long existed. They add that media coverage on pedophilia cases and legal changes to protect victims have prompted mistreated children to come forward.
The Angers case came to light in November 2000, when a 16-year-old girl alleged she had been raped by her mother's boyfriend and his brother. The men had already been convicted of sexual violence.
Moreau said that while the publicity from the trial "can be bad for the town," she hopes that exposing the case will help combat such abuse.
"We have to bounce back and make it a subject of discussion," she said. "We really have to show that this is a crime, advertise that and explain it."
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Well, the FRench and Belgium are big UN backers, soooo.
sad, for the children.
This is so sad. I attended a summer course at the Catholic University of the West in Angers. The people were great, and town and surrounding country were beautiful.
French town struggles with pedophilia case (Angers, FRance)
"We have to bounce back and make it a subject of discussion," she said. "We really have to show that this is a crime, advertise that and explain it.
The town is not without its difficulties. Moreau said nearly one-third of Angers' housing is state-supported for low-income families
Some of the accused were abused themselves as children. Alcoholism, poverty and, defense lawyers claim, a failure of social workers to spot signs of abuse may have played a role. More than half of the accused, aged 27 to 73, were unemployed, living off benefits in state-supported housing. Some are said by their lawyers to be illiterate and Moreau said some were already known to police.
Do you believe this? It's like excuses upon "oh poor pitiful town" upon lies upon "oh, but they're ignorant". That's ridiculous. There is no way to justify 60+ adults raping and abusing 45 CHILDREN no matter how poor, how stupid, how downtrodden you are. EVER.
Ditto. I spent more than a week there. Great town.
They're rather selective in their enforcement aren't they.
Yet these are the people the US Supreme Court sites for their "superior ethics" regarding outlawing capital punishment in the US.
Polansky is untouchable, Jewish, Holocaust, whatever.
So much for 'French" culture.
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