An appeals court Thursday overturned the conviction of six people accused of participating in a pedophilia ring in northern France five years ago, unraveling one of the most mismanaged cases in French judicial history and leaving the nation asking how the court system could have gone so awry.
"I apologize to the acquitted and their families," Justice Minister Pascal Clément said at a news conference after the verdict was announced in Paris.
He ordered a triple investigation of the police, judiciary and social services involved in the case and asked for a report by February. "I want the French people to know that I will get to the bottom of this," he said.
Details here from the New York Times via the International Herald Tribune.