French city conducts mass DNA test in hunt for school rapist

More than 500 male students and staff at a French high school began giving DNA samples Monday in an unprecedented effort to uncover who raped a teen girl in a dark bathroom last fall. 

The operation, which is taking place at Fenelon-Notre Dame high school in the port city of La Rochelle, has raised concerns over rights violations after prosecutors said anyone refusing to submit a sample would be considered a potential suspect in the Sept. 30 rape of a 16-year-old girl. 

"This happened during the school day in a confined space," said Chantal Devaux, the private Roman Catholic school's director. "The decision to take such a large sample was made because it was the only way to advance the investigation."

The collection of samples from 475 students, 31 teachers and 21 other staff believed to have been on the premises at the time of the rape is expected to last through Wednesday.

The victim was attacked in the dark and was unable to identify her attacker, but police managed to retrieve her attacker's DNA imprint from her clothing. That imprint will be compared with the samples — that will be drawn using a swab under the tongue -— taken this week.

Individual consent will need to be given for the sample to be taken, as well as parental consent in the case of minors. The results of the tests are due in several months. Authorities said samples that do not match the DNA found on the victim will be destroyed.

La Rochelle prosecutor Isabelle Pagenelle said, so far, no one has refused the DNA test. 

Pagenelle said investigators exhausted all other leads in the rape last fall. She also said anyone who refused the test could be considered a suspect and taken into custody.

"The choice is simple for me," she said. Either I file it away and wait for a match in what could be several years, or I go looking for the match myself."

But some have condemned the move as a clear violation of civil rights.

"Refusing to give a DNA sample when not in custody is a right," prominent defense lawyer Joseph Cohen-Sabban told the French newspaper Le Figaro. 

"It's ludicrous. They want to decide on taking someone into custody based on that person exercising their rights," he said. "Then, once in custody, it's against the law to refuse to give a DNA sample...This is a truly unacceptable abuse of process."

France has an extensive DNA database, with a total of 2 million profiles kept on file as of 2012, and refusing a test can be used against suspects in court. 

Wire services