Victims attack French judiciary over sex abuse case

Thirteen people wrongly accused of paedophilia bitterly attacked French police and magistrates yesterday in an emotional televised hearing into a case that has fuelled calls for judicial reform.

Twelve of the victims spent long periods in jail before the woman who accused them of involvement in a paedophilia ring and sexually abusing her children admitted inventing the charges.

In gripping footage shown live on television, victims fought back tears as they told an independent inquiry they were humiliated, mistreated and held in jail despite inconsistencies in evidence against them by the woman and her children.

Fabrice Burgaud, the prosecuting magistrate in charge of the case, came under fierce attack although he said in a magazine interview he was the victim of a profound injustice himself because of the intense criticism he has faced.

"I want it said that Mr Burgaud did not act alone, that the the whole system malfunctioned," said Karine Duchochois, the only victim who was not held in jail after police took her in for questioning in November, 2001. She was pregnant at the time.

Wiping away tears, she said she did not see her son for three years and appeals for a second opinion were ignored after psychologists decided the children's evidence was credible.

The woman who made the accusations and her husband are serving jail sentences for sexual abuse. She said she made up her accusations to spread the guilt.

The inquiry by a parliamentary panel into what President Jacques Chirac called an unprecedented judicial disaster is due to culminate in a report to the head of state next June.