A French couple went to trial on Thursday, accused of planning “her five -year -old son in the Moroccan desert, accusations that have strongly denied.
The two music teachers were arrested in southern Spain at the end of 2023, since they were about to board a ferry to Morocco after buying a new four -wheel drive and subsitming their apartment near the French city of Bordeaux.
An alarmed relative had told French prosecutors that the father intended to “sacrifice” his son in the desert because he believed he was “possessed,” he showed the investigation.
Father, Florian L, denies that, said his lawyer Audrey Boussillon.
“He never intended to harm his son in any way,” he added.
The couple, who possess “anti-system” and “mystical” beliefs, vehemently rejects the charges of being part of a criminal gang and failing in their duties as parents, said his defense team.
The mother’s lawyer, Marie L, Aurelie Filippi-Codaccioni, said the couple had been in Morocco two years before and wanted to return for an undetermined period.
But Merlene Labadie, a lawyer who represents the child’s interests, said that the couple’s beliefs endangered her son, who spoke of the importance of “being cold, scared and eliminating the snake within us” when he found himself.
He is now under the custody of his maternal grandparents, he said.
The trial is to last a single day and the verdict will probably be announced at a later date.
