The victim, Bastien, is to be burried at 3.00pm as an investigation continues into why social services were unable to prevent the death of the young boy.

On Sunday, 200 people marched to honour Bastien in the small town of Germagny-l’Evêque. The demonstrators held white roses and marched in silence, according to daily La Dépêche. Bastien’s grand-father Noël Cotte was at the march and thanked the participants.

Bastien was killed at the end of November when his father, Christophe Champenois, put him into a washing machine and switched it on. His father wanted to punish him for misbehaving at nursery school.

Champenois has been charged with the “murder of a minor” and the boy’s mother was charged with failing to prevent a crime and failing to assist a person in danger.

A source close to the investigation into the child’s death said Bastien was repeatedly abused by his father. The social services had been monitoring the family since 2006, but had received no reports of abuse according to daily France Soir.

Junior family minister Claude Greff launched an investigation last week into why social services failed to protect the child.

See also: French boy killed in washing machine