ANOTHER CHILD ABUSE CASE FALLS APART

Testimony from admitted child-abusers was accepted as sufficient to implicate other people not involved

A French appeals court on Thursday overturned the conviction of six people accused of participating in a pedophilia ring in northern France five years ago, unraveling one of the most mismanaged criminal cases in recent memory and leaving the nation asking how the court system could have gone so awry. "I apologize to the acquitted and their families," said the country's justice minister, Pascal Cl‚ment, at a news conference after the appeal verdict was announced in Paris. He called the case a "disaster" and ordered an unprecedented investigation of the police, judiciary and social service operations in the case and asked for a report by February. "I want the French to know that I am determined to address this matter thoroughly," he said.

The case was based on wide-ranging accusations by a woman in the northern town of Outreau after children told a teacher they had been abused in her home. The six people had been convicted even though she recanted her allegations against them during the trial. Of the 18 people she had originally said were involved, 7 were acquitted following her recantation and one committed suicide in detention before the case went to trial. The other four - the woman, her husband and two friends - confessed and were also convicted.

The chief prosecutor of Paris, Yves Bot, personally asked the appeals court on Wednesday to acquit the six, including a priest, calling the case a "true catastrophe" and demanding an investigation into who was responsible for such a gross miscarriage of justice. Lawyers for the defense asked for a moment of silence in memory of Fran‡ois Mourmand, the defendant who had committed suicide. "We must do what is necessary to make sure this doesn't happen again," Mr. Bot said, adding that the case had created serious doubts about French justice.

But others were heartened by the appeal, saying that it showed that the courts were capable of self-criticism and self-correction. "That's indispensable in a democracy," said Dominique Wolton, a sociologist at the National Council for Scientific Research, adding the rectification of such a major failure would help "relegitimize the justice system."

The case began in 2000 after the children told a teacher that they had been abused at the home of Thierry and Myriam Delay. Mr. Delay, who is unemployed and alcoholic, confessed to abusing his own four children, but not any others. Ms. Delay, however, told a more complicated tale of a pedophile ring that reached into neighboring Belgium, and she implicated many of her neighbors.

Friends of the Delays, David Delplanque and Aur‚lie Grenon, also confessed, and Ms. Grenon repeated Ms. Delay's accusations against the others. On the 10th day of the trial in May of last year, Ms. Delay and Ms. Grenon recanted their testimony implicating the others. "I'm sick, I'm a liar, I lied about everything," Ms. Delay told a stunned courtroom. She pointed out several of the accused who had endured years of investigation, imprisonment and humiliation, saying they were innocent. Despite that testimony, the six were found guilty and sentenced to jail terms of up to seven years.

During their joint appeal, which was heard in Paris in early November, Ms. Delay, who is now divorced and goes by her maiden name, Badaoui, and her ex-husband again testified that the six had had no role in the affair. "It was a moment of madness," she told the appeals court about her initial accusations, which she said were all lies. Her ex-husband said that "it was only the four of us," referring to himself, his ex-wife, Mr. Delplanque and Ms. Grenon.

The case was marred by deep doubts from the beginning, said Yves Jannier, France's attorney general, speaking to the appeals court on Wednesday, a day before the ruling. He noted that an investigative report by the police in July 2002 found "more doubts than certainties" in the accusations, but said, "No one had enough critical sense to stop the machine."

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