Sentences of up to six years in prison were handed down on Wednesday, December 18, by the Châteauroux criminal court, against the main defendants tried in October, notably for violence against minors placed in families without approval.
In this case, in which 18 people appeared, most of whom had received minors without authorization, the heaviest sentences were handed down against the two heads of the network.
Julien M., sentenced to six years in prison with deferred committal warrant, accompanied by a fine of 20,000 euros, and Bruno C., already imprisoned and sentenced to a four-year prison sentence with committal warrant and 5,000 fine euros, are considered to be the main culprits in trafficking. They were also on trial for brutalizing the teenagers.
“It’s a first step in rebuilding children”estimated Jean Sannier, victims’ lawyer. “In the case of Julien M., the court followed the requisitions, but it is a much lower sentence for Bruno C.”
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“Concealed work in an organized gang”
Seven years in prison, accompanied by a committal warrant and a 20,000 euro fine, were requested during the hearing. Julien M.’s parents, Colette and Antoine, who also had key roles in this affair, were sentenced to ten and twelve months in prison with fines of 10,000 and 20,000 euros. They will be summoned before a sentence enforcement judge.
In reaction, the civil parties said above all that they were waiting for damages, while one of the victims did not hide his disappointment at the sentencing: “they are lucky”she whispered.
During a particularly trying week of hearing for the victims, some described having suffered physical and psychological violence, humiliation and forced labor. Eighteen defendants then had to answer before the Châteauroux criminal court (Indre) for acts of violence, hidden work in an organized gang, reception of minors without prior declaration, administration of a harmful substance or use of forged documents.
The affair broke out in 2017 after hospitalization for “a fall while cycling” of one of the children, Matthias. The latter refuses, after a week in a coma, to return to his alleged executioner. A report is then made to the public prosecutor’s office, which uncovers repeated acts committed since 2010.
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« Coups, strangulations »
For seven years, around sixty children were illegally entrusted by Child Welfare (ASE) in the North to a reception facility located in Indre, which did not have the necessary approval. This structure, Childhood and Well-Being, headed by Bruno C. and Julien M., would have received at least 630,000 euros of public money by illegally placing these young people in families.
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The other defendants, mainly families from Indre, Creuse and Haute-Vienne who welcomed these young people without authorization, were sentenced to fines of 3,000 euros, 1,500 of which were suspended. “They all participated, at the end of the chain perhaps, but they participated”had insisted the deputy prosecutor Amélie Trochet, in her indictment.
During the proceedings in October, the victims, nine of whom attended the hearing, gave damning stories: « coups, strangulations »humiliations and insults. Many of them, aged 12, 14 or 16 at the time, also reported “forced labor”, “out of school” to tackle renovation work for the benefit of the two main defendants.
“The deficiencies of the ASE”
Stories that the main defendants, Julien M. and his parents in the lead, sought to minimize, evoking “reframes” necessary, « tapes »on “difficult children” dont “no one wanted”. Largely absent from the trial according to the civil parties, Child Welfare (ASE) also found itself at the heart of the debates but none of its officials were prosecuted.
Me Jean Sannier announced on Wednesday that a complaint would be filed against the ASE du Nord. “We understand that there is a before and an after of this trial”he assured. “This complaint aims to denounce all the deficiencies of the ASE. »
The Northern department has « island[é] the sentencing decision » and announced in a press release that “rigorously strengthened the control and monitoring systems of the reception structures to which the children are entrusted” since this affair.
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