Accused in French Porn Sex Crime Case Ordered to Stand Trial

PARIS—Almost a year after the initial arrests in an investigation by French police into various sex crimes and human trafficking in the country's pornography industry, 17 men have been ordered to stand trial on charges including rape, gang rape, organized human trafficking and aggravated pimping, according to news service Agence France-Presse (AFP). The charges stem from crimes allegedly committed during production for the now-shuttered French Bukkake web platform. The accused include the platform's top manager, his associate, a talent recruiter and a number of adult actors. Four of the charged men are currently in jail. Mirroring the crimes for which the owners of American website Girls Do Porn were prosecuted, the men connected to French Bukkake are alleged to have lured women into shooting videos for the site under the pretense that they would only be viewable on private Canadian websites, when in fact they were made available in France, and the producers allegedly proceeded to extort large amounts of money from the women to take the videos down, only for them to continue circulating online. Prosecution documents state that "Sexual acts were performed on [the women] without warning, without them being able to comprehend them, and therefore without being able to give their consent." One of the alleged victims told AFP, "We were tortured. I need the barbarity, and the sexist and racist hatred that I was the victim of, to be recognised and punished so I can live again." Image by jacqueline macou from Pixabay