© Photo Lilian Cazabet / Hans Lucas via AFP

In the late 1990s, an initial criminal investigation into sexual assaults at Notre-Dame-de-Bétharram near Pau in south-west France collapsed following the release from custody of the school's former director. The gendarme in charge of the probe at the time says he was told that François Bayrou – now France's prime minister – intervened with the chief prosecutor over the case involving the prestigious private Catholic establishment, which is located in his political fiefdom and which his own children attended. Bayrou himself has denied any such intervention took place. A lawyer representing victims in the abuse scandal has now called for an inquiry into events. And in an interview with Mediapart the retired gendarme, Alain Hontangs, says he would welcome such a move. David Perrotin and Antton Rouget report.

© Photo illustration Sébastien Calvet / Mediapart avec photo Adam Ferguson / The New York Times / Redux / REA

Jim P., a French citizen employed as a butler, was given a suspended 18-month prison sentence by a French court on Friday for stealing from his former employer Sergei Pugachev, a former Russian oligarch turned critic of Vladimir Putin. In reality, Jim P. had been spying on his boss with the help of a London-based private intelligence-gathering company called Diligence who were themselves apparently working on behalf of a Russian state organisation. Gabrielle Leroyer reports on this intriguing saga.

A court artist’s impression of Bethany, Athea et Dragana Haines. © Matthieu Fayette

The trial in Paris of five jihadists accused of the kidnappings and detention of four French journalists in Syria in 2013, and the perpetration of “acts of torture and barbarity” against their captives, which now enters its second week, has been hearing harrowing accounts of the survivors’ experiences at the hands of the Islamic State group. It also heard the moving accounts by the wife and two daughters of British aid worker David Haines, who was held alongside the French hostages and finally beheaded by his Islamic State captors. Matthieu Suc reports.

© Photo illustration Sébastien Calvet / Mediapart avec AFP

After Palestine, Ukraine has become the second victim of a pact of oligarchs established between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, writes Mediapart co-founder Edwy Plenel, who argues that by promoting and imposing a law of the strongest versus the principle of an equality of rights, their alliance amounts, at a global level, to the domination of a Mafia-like capitalism.

The basement of the Aleppo hospital where IS beat and tortured hostages. © Document Mediapart

The trial opened in Paris on Monday of five jihadists accused of the kidnapping and detention of four French journalists in Syria in 2013 and the perpetration of “acts of torture and barbarity” at a hospital in Aleppo taken over by Islamic State of Iraq and Levant group. Relatives of British aid worker David Haines, who was held alongside the French hostages before he was later decapitated, are present at the month-long trial as civil parties to the case, as is also his Italian colleague and fellow captive Federico Motka. Matthieu Suc reports on the background of the case and the evidence that emerged from almost ten years of investigations.

French Prime Minister François Bayrou. © Photomontage Mediapart avec REA

French Prime Minister François Bayrou faced more questions in parliament on Wednesday over Mediapart’s revelations that he failed to intervene in a scandal of violence and sexual assaults against pupils of a Catholic secondary school in his political fiefdom in south-west France, despite being made aware of the events. He told parliament that he was “never” informed of the attacks. Mediapart can reveal documents and first-hand accounts that indicate the contrary. David Perrotin and Antton Rouget report.

© Photo Matt Ramey / Redux / REA

By attacking the rule of law, the newly-installed United States president is weakening democratic checks and balances and undermining resistance. His blizzard of executive orders echoes the US military's 'shock and awe' tactics of the Iraq War and has left opponents reeling. In order to oppose this catastrophic state of affairs, argues Mediapart's publishing editor Carine Fouteau in this op-ed article, we urgently need to put an end to factional infighting, form a united front and confront it head on.

© Photo illustration Sébastien Calvet / Mediapart avec AFP

It is thought that, on average, a child dies at the hands of their parents every five days in France. But this is just an estimate as no detailed and centralised record is kept of the number of children killed in this way each year. In an investigation Mediapart has examined the deaths of 46 young children who met a violent end within their family in 2024. Often these killings are treated as isolated “cases”. But the sheer number of such deaths shows the extent to which fatal violence against young children is systemic in the country. “Infanticide is the tip of the iceberg of the particular violence inflicted on children in a society where adults dominate them in countless ways,” says one campaigner. Mathilde Mathieu reports.

Nicolas Sarkozy arriving at court in Paris. © Bastien Ohier / Hans Lucas via AFP

Nicolas Sarkozy and three former ministers are standing trial in Paris over claims that the former president's successful 2007 election campaign was part-funded by the Libyan regime of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi. And that the North African country – whose leader was one of the most notorious dictators on the planet – received favours in exchange. There are 13 defendants in all. In Wednesday's court hearing Nicolas Sarkozy appeared to be in difficulty when questioned on two issues in the case. One was the nuclear power plant that France wanted to sell to the Libyan dictator in 2007. The other was the exfiltration in 2011 – first from Libya, later from France - of Gaddafi's former chief of staff Bashir Saleh when the latter was the object of an Interpol arrest warrant. Fabrice Arfi reports on Wednesday's hearing.

Director Christophe Ruggia with his legal team. © Photo Jeanne Accorsini / Sipa

Five years after Mediapart's revelations on the case, actor Adèle Haenel has been vindicated in court. On February 3rd filmmaker Christophe Ruggia was sentenced to four years' imprisonment, two of which are suspended, with the other two to be served wearing an electronic bracelet, for sexually assaulting her when she was a minor. The court said that the director had “taken advantage of the power” which he had over the young actor at the time. After the verdict – in what has widely been seen as a landmark case for the #MeToo movement in France - Adèle Haenel told supporters: “Thank you for being here to advance human rights.” Marine Turchi reports.

© Mathilde Goanec - Mediapart

Last month gendarmes in north-east France arrived at a school during morning break in order to escort a 14-year-old pupil off the premises and deport her and her family to Belgium. Since then, both the local state prefecture and the gendarmes have been forced to admit that in doing so they committed “errors”.  And despite the toxic political climate in France, the immediate reaction from teachers, parents and some local politicians to the “scandalous” incident has managed to transform the debate on how migrants - and especially migrant children - are treated in the country. Mathilde Goanec reports.

© Photo Margaux Houcine / Mediapart

The planned Seine-Nord Europe Canal will be 107 kilometres or 66 miles long, and will link the Paris region with the waterway network in northern France, ultimately ensuring navigation between the French capital and the inland waters of Belgium and the Netherlands. This new canal will start at Compiègne north of Paris and end near Cambrai in the north of the country. Mediapart's Margaux Houcine met opponents of the scheme who took to the treetops at Compiègne – before being removed by the police - to highlight what they see as both a pointless and environmentally-unfriendly project.

Middlemen Alexandre Djouhri and Ziad Takieddine. © Photos AFP

Nicolas Sarkozy and three former ministers are standing trial in Paris over claims that the former president's successful 2007 election campaign was part-funded by the Libyan regime of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi. And that the North African country – whose leader was one of the most notorious dictators on the planet – received favours in exchange. There are 13 defendants in all. Wednesday's court hearing featured evidence from the former director of intelligence at France's overseas intelligence agency, the DGSE. Alain Juillet said that he had warned the former president's key allies and fellow defendants Brice Hortefeux and Claude Guéant of the risks they were taking by having contact with intermediaries – and also co-defendants - Ziad Takieddine and Alexandre Djouhri. Karl Laske reports

© Photo Nicolas Guyonnet / Hans Lucas via AFP

Even before they sign their first permanent employment contract, many Muslim students have already faced Islamophobic job-related discrimination, for example when applying for work experience or internships. And many young women applicants also agonise over whether or not to include a photo of them wearing the hijab or traditional Muslim headscarf with their CV. The discriminatory attitude displayed by potential bosses and employers is now leading these young women to question their future in France, even though this is the country where they were born and have grown up. Marie Turcan reports.

Sandra, an undocumented Salvadorian in Los Angeles, lives in constant fear of deportation. © Nejma Brahim / Mediapart

Immediately after taking office on January 20th, US President Donald Trump has begun his pledged crackdown on undocumented immigrants, with the arrests and deportations of many hundreds of people since last week, some of them on military cargo planes, and a significant hardening of the immigration system. Earlier this month Nejma Brahim travelled to California where she met with undocumented immigrants who spoke of their terror of being deported, some after having lived decades in the country.