While the dating site Coco.gg was closed by the courts on Tuesday, June 25, 2024, the list of cases associated with it continues to grow. This Saturday, June 29, the Grenoble public prosecutor Éric Vaillant announced the indictment of four young people, two adults and two minors, for “violence in meetings” after ambushes against young men on the dating site.
Read also: Controversial website Coco.gg shut down by courts, four suspects questioned
The case dates back to the end of 2023, when “A group of three to seven criminals ambushed young men they met on the COCO dating site” in the commune of Seyssinet-Pariset (Isère), the prosecutor said.
Knives found during searches
Victims were robbed of their cell phones or bank cards by “a gang sometimes armed with knives” and were also made « molester », said the prosecutor. One of the members of this gang was arrested in early December 2023 in flagrante delicto and “three co-perpetrators or accomplices (were) arrested at their homes” in the process. They were also presented to an investigating judge with a view to opening a judicial investigation, aimed at identifying and then questioning the rest of the team and listing other facts.
Read also: North: four men indicted after ambushes via the coco.gg website
On June 26, two minors aged 17 and two adults aged 18 and 19, considered co-perpetrators or accomplices, were arrested in the Grenoble metropolis and indicted for “group violence”. Searches led to “discovering knives, mobile phones, means of payment and what is needed for the packaging of narcotics”adds the prosecutor.
Predator den
Several associations consider coco.gg as a “predator’s lair”making it easier for attackers to identify victims. This website is already associated with several police or legal cases, such as that of Dominique P., who allegedly used the platform to recruit men who raped his wife, or the murder of Philippe Coopman, murdered on April 16, 2024 in Grande-Synthe.
Read also: Death of Philippe in Grande-Synthe: Coco, a controversial dating site at the center of the affair
The SOS-Homophobia association had requested its closure after the ambush of which a homosexual was the victim in Marseille at the beginning of October 2023. At least 300 men were trapped and violently attacked between 2018 and 2022, according to a Mediapart investigation.
This site was also in the sights of child protection associations, such as Innocence in Danger, which had also called for its closure by launching a petition.
