Get Guardian on GoogleA former French intelligence agent has been charged and imprisoned in eastern France on suspicion of ordering child rapes in Africa, prosecutors said Saturday.
The man was arrested on Monday and was remanded in custody on Friday, Strasbourg public prosecutor Clarisse Taron told AFP.
The 58-year-old man, who is retired from the military, was charged with “aggravated human trafficking,” “rape and sexual assault of minors,” and “capture, import, and dissemination of a pornographic image of a minor,” according to the daily newspaper Le Parisien, which first reported the case.
He is suspected of having ordered the rape of children in Africa, particularly in Kenya, which he visited for work, and “of having paid for and remotely orchestrated sexual abuse, filmed scenes that he then consumed to satisfy his criminal urges,” the newspaper said.
The videos were spotted online by an American foundation fighting child sex crimes, which then alerted the French police.
