PARIS: An Indian man went on trial behind closed doors in Paris on Monday (Oct 5), accused of running a neo-Nazi child exploitation ring in which young girls were allegedly coerced into performing sexual acts online and engaging in self-harm.
The group is believed to have abused mostly underage girls in countries including the United States, the Netherlands, Britain and Estonia.
Investigators say the perpetrators were men from Germany, New Zealand and the United States who communicated on the popular messaging platform Discord. They espoused racist and antisemitic views and expressed hostility toward feminists and the LGBTQ community.
Rohan Rane, a 29-year-old Indian national who came to France to study at a business school in the southeastern city of Antibes before becoming a fitness coach, is described by investigators as the group's leader.
The defendant, who was arrested in 2021, appeared in the dock wearing a white T-shirt.
He is being tried on charges including torture or acts of barbarity against minors, organised extortion and dissemination of child sexual abuse material. If convicted, he faces up to life in prison.
The case was triggered in November 2020 by a report from the US National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
The child protection organisation discovered online images of a 12-year-old girl with her chest exposed while another user encouraged her to carve the name "Rohan" into her body.
Five American women, aged 18 to 21, have joined the case as civil parties and were expected to testify by video link this week.
According to a court document released by the US Department of Justice, the internet-based group dubbed CVLT espoused "neo-Nazism, nihilism, and paedophilia as its core principles."
The investigation showed its members attracted vulnerable minors on Instagram or other social media platforms.
They persuaded them to send naked pictures then threatened to publish them, or blackmailed them by saying they would make a fake emergency call so security forces would turn up at their door.
The ring members -- who called themselves "warlords" -- then forced their victims -- often Jewish or black girls they called "slaves" -- to perform sexual acts against their will, including with knives, or to carve the names of their tormentors or Nazi swastikas into their skin.
They also incited their victims -- whom they also called "housewives" -- to commit suicide by drinking bleach or by strangling themselves with a belt or leash.
One of these "warlords", a 26-year-old US citizen, has already been sentenced in his home country for having abducted and raped a 12-year-old girl in 2021.
The Paris criminal court on Monday ordered the trial be held behind closed doors, following a request from US authorities.
The court defended its decision by explaining the group allegedly led by Rane, which was particularly active in the United States, had already sought to intimidate victims and witnesses and had threatened US prosecutors.
It also noted that videos showing the torture and humiliation of victims, often under the age of 15, were expected to be screened during proceedings scheduled to run through Friday.
Backed by child protection groups, Hippolyte Marquetty, a lawyer for the five US victims, had unsuccessfully opposed the closed-door proceedings.
He said his clients believed it was important to raise awareness of the dangers teenage girls face on social media. - AFP
