A trial has opened in Paris over the alleged rape of pupils in “boat schools”, a year after the French state was found guilty of “denial of justice” for taking too long to bring the case to court.
Leonid Kameneff, a former child psychotherapist who founded L’Ecole en Bateau, in which children aged nine to 16 would travel on a boat for months, or a year, as an alternative to mainstream education, is accused of rape and sexual abuse against 10 former pupils. Three other crew members are also on trial over similar charges.
The case has come to court decades after some of the alleged attacks on the boats, in the 1980s and 1990s. The first complaint of abuse against the schools was made in 1971, and was followed in the 1990s by further complaints for rape.
Last year, the French state was found guilty of “denying justice” by taking so long to bring a trial, and was ordered to pay compensation.
Kameneff, now 76, was extradited from Venezuela in 2011.
The 10 alleged victims, now aged in their 30s and 40s, include men and women who hold jobs such as magistrate, engineer and journalist. In all, 27 complaints were made.– (Guardian service)