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France police find ‘bones’ of missing toddler: prosecutor

French investigators have found and identified the "bones" of a toddler whose disappearance last summer in a tiny village in the French Alps shocked the nation, a prosecutor said Sunday

France police find 'bones' of missing toddler: prosecutor
Closed access to the French southern Alps village of Le Haut-Vernet where 2 year old Emile went missing. Photo: CHRISTOPHE SIMON/AFP.

Emile, two-and-a-half years old, was staying with his grandparents for the first day of the summer holidays when he vanished on July 8 last year.

Two neighbours last saw him in the late afternoon walking alone on a street in Le Vernet, at an altitude of  1,200 metres (4,000 feet).

“On Saturday, the police was informed of the discovery of bones near the hamlet of Le Vernet,” prosecutor Jean-Luc Blachon said.

Genetic testing allowed them “to conclude on Sunday that they were the bones of the child Emile,” he added.

A massive on-the-ground search involving dozens of police officers and soldiers, sniffer dogs, a helicopter and drones failed to find the little boy in July.

An initial probe into a missing person soon became a criminal investigation into a possible abduction. The possibilities of an accident or a fall have also remained open.

Police on Thursday returned to the village, cordoning off the area and summoning 17 people including family members, neighbours and witnesses to re-enact the last moments before he went missing to try to solve the mystery.

READ ALSO: Detectives return to French village to solve missing toddler mystery

Drones flew overhead in the drizzle to capture footage of the re-enactment.

Emile’s mother and father, devout Catholics, were absent on the day of his disappearance.

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CRIME

French cinema boss on trial for sexual assault

The head of France's top cinema institution Dominique Boutonnat denied sexually assaulting his godson as he went on trial Friday in a case that has led to calls for him to step down.

French cinema boss on trial for sexual assault

The trial comes as French cinema reels from a renewed #MeToo reckoning that has seen several big names, including acting legend Gerard Depardieu, accused of sexual abuse.

READ ALSO: French actor Gérard Depardieu to be tried for sexual assault in October

Activists have denounced Boutonnat’s continued leadership of the National Centre of Cinema (CNC), whose role includes overseeing measures to curb sexual violence in the industry.

His godson accuses him of trying to masturbate him during a holiday in Greece in 2020 when he was 19.

“I looked at him to find my godfather and that’s when I saw someone completely different… It was someone using me to masturbate,” the godson, who cannot be named for legal reasons, told the court.

Boutonnat responded in court that it was his godson who had initiated the situation and kissed him.

“I feel bad about leaving an ambiguous situation, but to say there was a sexual assault is false,” he told the court.

He was placed under investigation in February 2021 but still reappointed by the government as head of the CNC in July 2022.

Training to prevent abuse has in recent months become obligatory for films seeking public funding via the CNC.

The CNC told AFP that the case against Boutonnat came from “the private sphere” and had no relation to its activities.

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