A nine-year-old boy was rescued after he had been locked in his father’s van since 2024.
Police were alerted to the “sounds of a child” coming from a utility vehicle on Monday in the French village of Hagenbach, prosecutors said.
A child was found inside the van after French officers forced it open.
Nicolas Heitz, the public prosecutor for the city of Mulhouse, said the boy was found “lying in a foetal position, naked, covered by a blanket on top of a mound of trash and near excrement”.
The child could no longer walk after being in a seated position for an extended period, and was also malnourished, Mr Heitz said.
The prosecutor said the child was put inside the truck in November 2024 to “protect him” because the partner of the arrested man wanted to put the boy, then seven, into a psychiatric hospital.
Mr Heitz said there was no record of the boy having psychiatric problems before he disappeared, and he had a history of good performance in school.
The father of the child was detained and handed preliminary kidnapping and other charges.
His partner denied knowing the boy was in the van, Mr Heitz said. She was also handed preliminary charges, including failure to help a minor in danger. She was released under judicial supervision.
The child’s sister, 12, was put into the care of social services along with the 10-year-old daughter of the father’s partner.
An investigation is underway to determine if other people were aware of the boy’s detention.
Teachers are reported to have been told he had transferred to another school. Family and friends told investigators they thought the boy was in a psychiatric institution.
Hagenbach is around 25 miles from the Swiss border and a similar distance from Germany. It has a population of over 700 people.
