Three men were arrested as part of a preliminary investigation carried out by the national police in Blois. They are suspected of having held positions in an illegal madrassa where violence against children had occurred.
In Blois, where three men were arrested after a young girl reported being raped, there is a hail of questions and few answers. The judicial enquiry opened by the public prosecutor’s office on December 11 will have the difficult task of shedding light on a case in which sexual or other violence against minors is linked to the existence of an illegal madrassa in the northern districts of the city. At any rate, this is what emerges from the revelations of the newspaper La Nouvelle République, which France 3 was able to confirm.
It all starts when a twelve-year-old girl confides everything to her mother. A complaint is filed and a preliminary investigation is launched. Investigators from the Blois police station discovered an unregistered Quranic school. According to the Nouvelle République, the children who attended it reported harassment such as ‘beatings with fists, cables or belts’, which was confirmed by a police source. Three men were arrested by the police in Blés following a high-pressure investigation.
The Blois public prosecutor’s office and the Direction départementale de la sécurité publique are currently refusing to comment on the discovery of this illegal school and possible abuse.
However, the public prosecutor’s office confirmed that the three suspects were arrested and charged ‘in particular for illegally opening a private educational establishment, aiding and abetting the aforementioned offence, violence against minors under the age of 15 by a person in authority, rape of minors under the age of 15, bribery of minors under the age of 15 and failure to report a crime’. Two of the three suspects involved in the most serious offences have been remanded in custody, while the third remains under judicial supervision.
The purpose of the judicial investigation is to determine the extent of the offences reported and to identify any other victims. The Blois public prosecutor’s office also announced that the investigation has now been transferred to an investigating judge.