The founder of the adult website linked to a mass rape trial in France is facing charges

France on Thursday charged the founder of an adult website used to commit sexual crimes, including the French man which recruited dozens of foreigners to rape his heavily sedated wifeprosecutors said.

Isaac Steidl, the founder and manager of the website Coco.fr, was charged with offenses including the administration of an online platform to facilitate an illegal transaction by an organized gang, following his arrest on Tuesday.

French authorities shut down the anonymous platform in June 2024.

They say that the site was used to commit numerous sexual crimes, such as pedophilia and rape, as well as murder.

They also said it was activated Dominique Pelicot to recruit dozens of foreigners to rape his heavily sedated wife from 2011 to 2020. Pelicot was given the maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, while his co-accused were sentenced to three to 15 years.

Pelicot spoke to potential attackers on the chatroom of the website called “A son insu” (without their knowledge). He was sentenced to 20 years in prison in December after a trial in which his ex-wife Gisele Pelicot into a feminist icon.

Steidl, an Italian national, was placed under judicial supervision with an obligation to pay a bail of 100,000 euros and banned from leaving the country, prosecutors said.

The 44-year-old was charged with complicity in drug trafficking, possession and distribution of child pornography images, bribery of minors via the Internet, as well as aggravated money laundering, and the administration of an online platform to facilitate an illegal transaction. from an organized gang.

“Den of Predators”

Many of the offenses carry up to 10 years in prison.

The closure of the website followed numerous warnings from associations of the danger of the site, which was called a “den of predators”. It was recorded on the Channel Island of Guernsey.

The online chat site did not require registration and allowed its users to remain anonymous.

Steidl had already been questioned in Bulgaria in June.

Three of his relatives, suspected of having played a role in the administration of the platform or of having benefited from the crimes, were interviewed in France.

At the end of July 2024, two moderators of the site were arrested in France, a police source told AFP.

“In total, more than 23,000 acts have been reported as being committed via Coco,” Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau said.

Prosecutors said more than 5 million euros linked to bank accounts in Hungary, Lithuania, Germany and the Netherlands were seized.

Fifty co-defendants — the men who responded to Dominique Pelicot’s invitation online — were also convicted.

The details of the offenses shocked France and the world, drawing new attention to male violence. The impact of the process was magnified by the decision of Gisele Pelicot waives his anonymity and opt for a public trial.

She said she wanted the trial to be public in the hope that “all the women who are victims of rape can say to themselves: ‘Madame Pelicot did it, so we can do it.’

“I don’t want them to feel shame anymore. It’s not for us to feel shame – it’s for them (sexual attackers),” he said. “Above all, I expressed my will and determination to change this society.”

According to a study by the Institute of Public Policyonly 14% of accusations of violence in France lead to formal investigations.