Hungarian suspect in international "Project Medusa" sexual assault network investigation
A Hungarian user has been identified in an international operation targeting an online network specialising in drugging and raping women. The Cyber Crime Prevention Department has ordered an investigation into sexual assault.
Hungarian suspect in "Project Medusa" sexual assault network operation
A Hungarian user has been identified as part of an international investigation dismantling online networks specialising in drugging and raping women, according to a response from the National Police Headquarters (ORFK) sent to Telex.
The operation codenamed "Project Medusa", coordinated by Europol, was reported on by Telex last week. Hungarian authorities are also participating in the investigation: so far, more than 150 perpetrators and victims have been identified in the operation, though the actual number of crimes committed is likely to be considerably higher according to estimates.
Telex enquired with the ORFK's press office about the Hungarian aspects of the case, to which a response has now arrived. According to the ORFK, the Cyber Crime Prevention Department of the National Investigation Office at the Ready Police (KR NNI) is actively participating in the operation, within which they have successfully identified a Hungarian user and ordered an investigation against him for the crime of sexual assault.
Following the user's identification, investigators conducted a search at his place of residence, where electronic devices and data storage media were seized. Analysis of the seized data is currently ongoing, the ORFK reported.
The cooperation is not without precedent: the KR NNI's Cyber Crime Prevention Department has previously worked successfully on uncovering cases related to the Motherless website, during which a Hungarian user was also identified and questioned as a suspect.
Within the framework of "Project Medusa", investigators uncovered a well-organised criminal network whose members drug and rape their partners and then share their experiences with each other in online chat groups. According to the police, these groups "provide shelter" for perpetrators who are predominantly male: here they can coordinate attacks, exchange information, and post photographs and videos of the abuse. The victims often did not know they had been sexually assaulted until the police contacted them. In most cases, the assault was committed by someone "they knew and trusted, and in some cases by multiple perpetrators who were in contact with each other".
The international investigation was sparked by the Dominique Pelicot case, which is regarded as one of France's most serious and shocking sexual assault cases. Pelicot drugged his wife with high doses of sedatives over ten years, raping her while unconscious with men he had recruited on the internet. The French court issued a judgment last December: Pelicot was sentenced to twenty years in prison. Gisèle Pelicot, who agreed to a public trial, became a symbol of the fight against violence against women. Following the case, similar crimes have been uncovered in several European countries, including Germany and Poland.
Source: Telex