Several staff members at a Jewish religious school near Paris have been charged with abusive conduct.
Beth Yossef, an ultra-Orthodox Jewish academy in Bussieres, had seven of its staff members charged with “aggravated violence” for their conduct toward students, French prosecutors said on Saturday.
The children experienced “being locked up, confiscation of their identity documents, poor conditions, acts of abuse, lack of access to education and healthcare, and no possibility of returning to their families,” according to French prosecutor Laureline Peyrefitte.
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Police raided Beth Yossef on Monday, arresting 16 staff members and placing at least 42 underage students into an undisclosed child welfare facility, reported AFP. Some of the children have been returned to their parents. The children whose legal guardians have not been located after a select period will have their status resolved by a family court, officials said.
Several of the staff “generally denied the facts even if some were able to describe acts like slaps and blows,” Peyrefitte said.
One boy from the United States reportedly escaped from Beth Yossef in July and sought shelter at the U.S. Embassy in Paris, and other students soon followed, which drew the attention of Israeli public media.
“We found ourselves with around 30 witness accounts dating back to the 2000s from former pupils saying they suffered violence,” documentary filmmaker Dubi Kroitoru said.
Those who attended the school confirmed experiencing “physical abuse.”
“There was plenty of physical abuse,” A former student told i24NEWS on the condition of anonymity. “Every person went through it differently. I was physically abused a few times … the heads would send people to punish us.”
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The state has assumed custody of the children for five days, after which the fates of children who are not able to be reunited with their families or legal guardians will be determined by family court judges.
