Child abduction group on trial

Published on 04/12/2012 00:00

A GROUP of former French charity workers convicted of abducting African children in Chad, and later pardoned, have gone on trial charged with defrauding French families who had hoped to adopt the youngsters.

Zoe’s Ark, a non-profit group, was accused of trying to illegally fly 103 children from Chad to France and six members were convicted and jailed in 2007.

They returned to France to serve out their sentences but were freed in 2008 after being pardoned by Chad’s president.

Four of the six went on trial in Paris yesterday, along with a journalist and a member of the group who never left France.