Gilles de Rais
The hearing, which concluded Rais was not guilty of the crimes, was partially turned into a fictionalized biography called "Gilles de Rais ou la Gueule du loup" ("Gilles de Rais; or, the Mouth of the Wolf"), narrated by the writer Gilbert Prouteau. "The case for Gilles de Rais's innocence is very strong", Prouteau said. "No child's corpse was ever found at his castle at Tiffauges and he appears to have confessed to escape excommunication ... The accusations appear to be false charges made up by powerful rival lords to benefit from the confiscation of his lands." The journalist Gilbert Philippe of the newspaper "Ouest-France" said that Prouteau was being "facetious and provocative". He also claimed that Prouteau thought the retrial was basically "an absolute joke".