Former French surgeon sentenced to 20 years in prison for raping, abusing hundreds of patients

Former surgeon Joël Le Scouarnec sentenced to 20 years for child sex abuse, sparking outrage over leniency.

A 74-year-old former surgeon was given a maximum 20-year prison sentence on Wednesday (May 28, 2025) by a French Court for the rape and sexual assault of hundreds of patients, mostly children, over more than two decades.

Joël Le Scouarnec was sentenced after admitting molesting nearly 300 victims in one of the country’s largest-ever child sex abuse cases, which has raised questions about how he was able to abuse so many, for so long.

Judges followed the public prosecutor’s recommendations regarding the length of the sentence, and the criminal court of Morbihan, in western France, ordered that Le Scouarnec should serve at least two-thirds of the punishment before he can be eligible for release, because he remains dangerous.

But the Court did not impose a post-sentence preventive detention, prompting the anger of many victims.

Solène Podevin Favre, president of an advocacy group for child victims of incest and other sexual crimes, expressed shock at a verdict “we might have expected to be less lenient,” lamenting that post-sentence preventive detention was not imposed.

“It’s the maximum sentence, certainly,” she said. “But it’s the least we could have hoped for. Yet in six years, he could potentially be released. It’s staggering.”

Le Scouarnec, who has been jailed since 2017, is already serving a 15-year prison sentence, for a conviction in 2020 for the rape and sexual assault of four children, including two nieces. In French law, sentences run concurrently and Le Scouarnec should only serve the additional years after the first sentence is completed.