French court hears child sex case appeals

A Paris court today began hearing appeals from five men and a woman convicted of paedophilia in a case that raised questions about the French judicial system, after seven other defendants were acquitted.

In a letter submitted to the court by prosecutors, the man at the centre of the scandal, Thierry Delay, has affirmed that all six of the defendants are innocent.

Delay has not appealed the 20-year sentence he received for his own role in the child sex ring, in the northern town of Outreau.

Cross-examination of defendants and witnesses in the appeal is set to begin on Wednesday after two days of jury selection and presentation of charges.

The court had delayed the start of hearings from Thursday after one of the accused was admitted to hospital with lung problems.

In July 2004, a court in Saint-Omer, northern France, convicted 10 out of 17 defendants on paedophilia charges relating to the abuse of 18 children between 1995 and 2000 – the largest trial of its kind in France.