Indian Man Jailed For 20 Years In France For Leading International Group That Forced Minors To Make Sexual & Violent Videos

London: A 29-year-old Indian man has been sentenced to 20 years in prison by a Paris court for leading a masculinist group that forced young girls, many of them minors, to perform sexual acts, authorities said.

The trial of Rohan Rane began on Monday in Paris before a special criminal court and is being held behind closed doors, the state-owned France 24 television network reported.

On Friday, the Paris court sentenced Rane, who came to France to study, to 20 years in prison over his involvement in an international criminal network that targeted vulnerable children in the US, Britain and Canada and coerced them into producing violent and sexual videos, the report added.

Prosecutors had sought a 30-year jail term for Rane, who they described as a neo-Nazi lover of sadism and macabre ultra-violence.

Most of the dozens of victims of the group led by Rane were American girls, the court was told.

Many were aged under 15. Other young male members of the masculinist group were from the United States, India, Germany and New Zealand, the France 24 report added.

Six of the girls, now aged between 18 and 21, made official complaints. About 20 victims were identified, but others could not be contacted, prosecutors said.

After five days of hearings, mainly behind closed doors, the court found Rane guilty of offences, notably extortion committed as part of an organised gang, with the aggravating circumstances of acts of torture and barbarity perpetrated on the victims.

Prosecutors said all of the girls were lured by the "CVLT" group that was driven by nihilism, racism, anti-Semitism, Nazi aesthetics and values, and the hatred of feminists and the LGBTQ+ community.

The group became active ahead of the Covid-19 pandemic on the Discord platform with Rane as its leader.

Rane went to France to study at a commercial school in the southern town of Antibes before becoming a sports coach.

Rane was first arrested in 2021 in France. US authorities passed on information about his leadership in the "CVLT" group and how he had vaunted his desire to fullfil his "sadism". 

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