Former surgeon on trial in France after being accused of raping or abusing 299 victims, most of whom were child patients

France is about to hold its largest-ever child sex abuse trial. While just one man is in the dock — a former surgeon accused of raping or sexual abusing 299 people, mostly child patients — activists hope the trial empowers other victims and helps expose other abusers long protected by societal taboos.

Central to the trial are defendant Joël Le Scouarnec's chillingly detailed notebooks, which he used to document decades of sexual violence.

Le Scouarnec, now 74, will face hundreds of victims during a four-month trial starting Monday in Vannes, in the Brittany region of northwestern France. He doesn't deny the charges, though he says he doesn't remember everything.