Seventeen people have gone on trial in northern France on charges of gang raping 18 children, aged three to 12, over a period of five years.
The six women and 11 men have also been charged with "rape with torture" and "rape with barbaric acts". Some of their own children were named as victims.
The alleged incidents, which have shocked France, happened in Outreau, near the port of Boulogne-sur-Mer.
The case came to the attention of prosecutors in December 2000, when social services alerted them to the possible sexual abuse committed by an unemployed couple against their own four children, AFP news agency reported.
The children, once they had been placed in foster care, told investigators they had been fondled, raped, coerced into performing sex acts and forced to watch pornographic films.
Hundreds of witnesses are due to appear in court. The children named other individuals involved, some of them neighbours. Police seized sex toys and pornographic videos from the family apartment, where the illicit sex sessions allegedly took place.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3683255.stm
The six women and 11 men have also been charged with "rape with torture" and "rape with barbaric acts". Some of their own children were named as victims.
The alleged incidents, which have shocked France, happened in Outreau, near the port of Boulogne-sur-Mer.
The case came to the attention of prosecutors in December 2000, when social services alerted them to the possible sexual abuse committed by an unemployed couple against their own four children, AFP news agency reported.
The children, once they had been placed in foster care, told investigators they had been fondled, raped, coerced into performing sex acts and forced to watch pornographic films.
Hundreds of witnesses are due to appear in court. The children named other individuals involved, some of them neighbours. Police seized sex toys and pornographic videos from the family apartment, where the illicit sex sessions allegedly took place.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3683255.stm