Founder of adult website linked to mass rape trial in France faces charges
France on Thursday charged the founder of an adult website used to commit sexual offences, including by a French man who recruited dozens of strangers to rape his heavily sedated wife, prosecutors said.
Isaac Steidl, the founder and manager of the Coco.fr website, was charged with offences including administering an online platform to facilitate an illegal transaction by an organized gang, after his detention on Tuesday.
French authorities shut down the anonymous platform in June 2024.
They say the site was used to commit numerous sex crimes such as pedophilia and rape, as well as murder.
They also said it had enabled Dominique Pelicot to recruit dozens of strangers 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 handed sentences ranging from three to 15 years.
Pelicot spoke to potential attackers on the website's chatroom called "A son insu" (without their knowledge). He was sentenced to 20 years in jail in December after a trial that turned his now former wife Gisele Pelicot into a feminist icon.
Steidl, an Italian national, was placed under judicial supervision with the obligation to pay bail of 100,000 euros and banned from leaving the country, said prosecutors.
The 44-year-old has been charged with complicity in drug trafficking, possession and distribution of images of child pornography, corruption of minors via the Internet, as well as aggravated money laundering, and the administration of an online platform to facilitate an illegal transaction by an organised gang.
"Den of predators"
Several of the offenses carry up to 10 years' imprisonment.
The shutdown of the website followed numerous warnings from associations of the danger posed by the site, which was dubbed a "den of predators." It was registered on the Channel Island of Guernsey.
The online chat site required no 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 having benefited from the offences, were interviewed in France.
At the end of July 2024, two site moderators were arrested in France, a police source told AFP.
"In total, more than 23,000 acts have been reported as having been committed through Coco," Paris public prosecutor Laure Beccuau has said.
Prosecutors have said that more than 5 million euros linked to bank accounts in Hungary, Lithuania, Germany and the Netherlands have been seized.
Fifty co-defendants -- the men who responded to Dominique Pelicot's invitation online --- were also convicted.
Details of the offenses shocked France and the world, drawing fresh attention to male violence. The impact of the trial was magnified by Gisele Pelicot's decision to waive her anonymity and opt for a public trial.
She said she wanted the proceedings to be public in the hope that "all 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 ashamed anymore. It's not for us to feel shame — it's for them [sexual attackers]," she said. "Above all, I'm expressing my will and determination to change this society."
According to a study by the Institute of Public Policies, just 14% of rape accusations in France lead to formal investigations.
