For hours, a noisy, impatient crowd lined the forecourt of the modest Vannes courthouse on Monday, February 24, for the start of Joël Le Scouarnec's trial. The retired surgeon is accused of raping and sexually assaulting 299 victims while they were hospitalized, between 1989 and 2014 on patients with an average age of 11 at the time of the assaults.

Some 30 doctors, some in white coats, unfurled a banner denouncing the "omerta" in their profession. Lawyers in black robes held conciliatory meetings. Three teachers from the town came to "feel the atmosphere," said one. Young feminist activists chanted slogans against "pedocriminality." And above all, omnipresent, dozens of French and foreign journalists were jostling to make sure they didn't miss a moment.

The atmosphere was a blend of a fairground and an international summit. In the rush, everyone was a little embarrassed to say it bluntly, but finally blurted it out anyway: "We're about to witness the biggest case of pedophilia ever tried in France."

At 1:01 pm, when the hearing began, all eyes were glued to the door through which 74-year-old Le Scouarnec was due to enter. Since his arrest in 2017, few have met him, apart from perhaps one or two priests, prison and court staff, a few psychologists and his lawyers, Maxime Tessier and Thibaut Kurzawa. The former surgeon has also been kept in solitary confinement for years, to protect him from other inmates. Only a childhood friend occasionally meets him in the visiting room.

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