The three suspects were presented before the Jirs (Specialized Interregional Jurisdiction) of Nancy with a view to their indictment, according to these sources who confirm information from the newspaper l'Est Républicain. Their placement in pre-trial detention was requested. Contacted by AFP, the Nancy Jirs did not wish to communicate on this matter.
A 21-year-old man living in Doubs, “presenting himself as a vigilante”, conceived with the two other suspects established in Isère and Allier “what he calls 'The anti-pedo league', a group accessible on Telegram”, a source close to the matter told AFP.
Ambushes and humiliations
The three men are suspected of having encouraged members of the group to pose as underage girls on social networks to “phish” adult men, then presented as possible pedophiles, before ambushing them, to humiliate them and film the attack, specifies the same source. The videos were then broadcast on the Telegram group.
The suspects established a precise operating procedure, providing the group with photos of underage girls to attract Internet users. “One woman was even able to call the phished people to pretend to be underage girls,” we add.
The administrator of the Telegram group is also suspected of having attacked a 22-year-old young man, also living in Doubs. The latter presented himself to the police in October, saying he had gone to a meeting that he thought he had set up with a 14-year-old girl, met on social networks. But instead of the young girl, two men were waiting for her. He told the police “that he had been kidnapped, taken to a wood and subjected to very severe acts of violence”, according to the source close to the case. His attackers then took his bank card and his codes.
Undressed, beaten, he is “walked like a dog on a leash, forced to lap the ground”, it continues, “he suffered a scene of great humiliation”.
The investigation into criminal conspiracy was entrusted to the research section of the Strasbourg gendarmerie. Investigations are continuing to identify potential other victims and perpetrators of attacks.
With AFP
