Source : INDIA TODAY NEWS
A Paris court has sentenced a 29-year-old Indian man, Rohan Rane, to 20 years in prison for leading a masculinist group that forced young girls, many of them minors, to perform sexual acts, authorities said.
After five days of hearings, most of them held behind closed doors, the special criminal court found Rane guilty over his role in an international criminal network that targeted vulnerable children in the US, Britain and Canada and coerced them into producing violent and sexual videos. Prosecutors had sought a 30-year jail term for him.
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The trial began on Monday in Paris and was held behind closed doors, France 24 reported. Prosecutors described Rane as a neo-Nazi lover of sadism and macabre ultra-violence. The court was told that most of the dozens of victims of the group led by him were American girls, many of them aged under 15.
The report said other young male members of the masculinist group were from the US, India, Germany and New Zealand. Six of the girls, now aged between 18 and 21, made official complaints. Prosecutors said about 20 victims were identified, but others could not be contacted.
The court found Rane guilty of offences including 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, which they said was driven by nihilism, racism, anti-Semitism, Nazi aesthetics and values, and hatred of feminists and the LGBTQ+ community.
According to the report, the group became active on the Discord platform ahead of the Covid-19 pandemic, with Rane as its leader. He had gone to France to study at a commercial school in the southern town of Antibes before becoming a sports coach. Rane was first arrested in France in 2021 after US authorities passed on information about his leadership of the “CVLT” group and how he had vaunted his desire to fulfil his “sadism”.
The case ended with the Paris court sentencing Rane to 20 years in prison for his role in the network that targeted young girls across several countries and forced them into violent and sexual acts.
With PTI Inputs
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SOURCE :- TIMES OF INDIA
