Paris trial: Indian man tried for online torture of minors, hearing held in closed session
The Paris Court of Assizes has closed the trial of a 29-year-old Indian man accused of running a male-supremacist group that forced teenage girls into online sexual acts.
Trial held in closed session for online sexual torture
According to BFM TV, the Paris Court of Assizes ordered the hearing closed on Monday 5 October in the trial of Rohan Rane, a 29-year-old Indian man, accused of running a discussion group where young girls, often minors, were forced to engage in online sexual acts and self-harm. This decision came following a request from American authorities, despite the opposition of the victims' lawyer.
Rohan Rane allegedly ran this criminal group based on the Discord platform, made up of young German, New Zealand and American men with ties to racism, antisemitism and Nazi aesthetics. He is being prosecuted notably for torture and acts of barbarism against minors, extortion as part of an organised group and distribution of child sexual abuse material. As head of the group, he faces a life sentence if aggravating circumstances are found.
The president of the Court of Assizes justified the closure by citing several reasons: the criminal group "has already sought to intimidate victims and witnesses" and threatened American prosecutors. She also highlighted a "dangerous threat to public morality", given that videos showing scenes of torture and humiliation of victims, often under 15 years old, would be presented during the proceedings scheduled until Friday.
The victims come from several countries: five American women, aged 18 to 21, are parties to the civil action and will testify by videoconference this week. However, teenage girls from the United States, the Netherlands, Great Britain and Estonia were also victims of this network that communicated via Discord. These girls were lured by this group of young men promoting ultraconservative values and expressing manifest hatred towards feminists and the LGBT+ community.
The lawyer for the five American victims, Hippolyte Marquetty, opposed the closed session in vain. He considered it "paradoxical" to try an accused without publicity a man who is charged with "having isolated his victims". His clients consider it "important to make public the dangers that teenage girls encounter on social networks". Child protection organisations supported this position.
Rane, who had studied at a business school in Antibes before becoming a sports coach, made no comment when the closed session was requested. The case was triggered in November 2020 by a report from an American child protection organisation, which had discovered online images of a 12-year-old child with exposed torso, urged to self-harm by carving the name "Rohan" on his body.
The prosecutor general recommended not weakening "absolutely exemplary cooperation with the United States" by opposing their request for a closed hearing.
Source: BFM TV