Angers, France ? French authorities opened one of the nation’s most horrific pedophilia trials Thursday, charging that nearly four dozen babies and children were raped, sexually abused and prostituted by their parents for a little cash, food, alcohol or even cigarettes.

Sixty-six defendants, some facing up to life imprisonment, were brought into a courtroom specially built in this western city to hold them all.

Many of the 39 men and 27 women shifted uncomfortably in their seats, shoulders hunched, looking down at their shoes. Most replied timidly when asked, one by one, to stand and give their age, profession and address.

In French trials, defendants do not plead guilty or not guilty at the start of proceedings. Court officials said about half of the accused had admitted involvement in the alleged crimes during questioning.

Investigators say 45 children — from 6 months to 14 years old — were raped or sexually abused from 1999 to 2002 by their parents or people close to them who paid money, food, cigarettes or liquor. A grandfather of some of the children allegedly filmed rapes and other abuse.

“To my knowledge, we’ve never seen a criminal case of this magnitude in France,” said Pascal Rouiller, a lawyer for five suspects.

As the trial opened, the court ruled the hearings will be closed to the public to protect the victims’ identities. Journalists will be allowed in, but under French law cannot use the names of the children or their parents.

The victims, who are in the care of social services, will not appear in court. Their testimony has been videotaped.

Psychological counseling is being offered to the jurors and the six judges to help them cope with the sordid testimony expected from a trial scheduled to last four months.

The defendants, aged from 27 to 73, mostly are from low-income households in the Saint-Leonard neighborhood of Angers, a town of 156,000 people some 165 miles southwest of Paris. More than half are unemployed.

The case came to light in 2000, when a 16-year-old girl alleged she had been raped by her mother’s boyfriend and his brother.

Three couples at the heart of the case lured their children and those of their friends, relatives and neighbors by saying they were going to “play doctor,” the prosecution’s 420-page legal filing charges.