Pedophile French surgeon goes on trial for abusing nearly 300

The logo of French television network TF1 is displayed at the Boulogne-Billancourt headquarters near Paris, Feb. 21. Reuters-Yonhap

A former French surgeon went on trial Monday charged with raping or sexually assaulting almost 300 patients, most of them children and some of them unconscious at the time, in one of the country's largest child sex abuse cases.

Judge Aude Buresi declared the hearing in the western city of Vannes open, as Joel Le Scouarnec, 74, took his place in the dock. (AFP)