Eighteen go on trial in France accused of involvement in European horsemeat scam

euronews.com:

Eighteen people have gone on trial in Marseille, France, accused of running a European horsemeat trading network involving produce unfit for human consumption.  

The main defendants – from France, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands and Spain – are charged with "organised fraud" and "forgery and deception of goods that endanger human health”.   

Only 13 were present at the court on Tuesday and some have admitted selling "non-compliant" animals between 2010 and 2015.

One of those accused is 58-year-old Jean-Marc Decker, a horse trader from Bastogne, eastern Belgium, who was described by prosecutors as the pivot of a "vast international horse trafficking" network.

It's alleged people working for Decker or his suppliers acquired horses from private individuals -- promising them "a peaceful retirement" and "good care" for their animals -- before slaughtering them. 

More than 150 horse owners were victims of the alleged scam, of which around fifty have filed civil suits.

The national council of the order of veterinarians, the municipality of Alès and the National Interprofessional Association of Livestock and Meat (ANBV) have also brought civil action.

The investigation opened in France in 2013 and was then carried out jointly with Belgian investigators following a report from the National Brigade for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Investigations into an abattoir in Alès, a town in the Gard department.

Veterinary services uncovered a series of suspected frauds based on the falsification of identification books and health documents for the animals.

In particular, the defendants allegedly committed numerous breaches of European regulations concerning imported horses from countries of the European Union.

Two veterinarians at the