New crackdown in “amateur” porn… Three actors were arrested this Tuesday morning in the investigation in Paris on the “French Bukkake” pornographic video platform which has been shaking up this industry for two years.
The three men were taken into custody as part of the judicial investigation opened in October 2020 for aggravated human trafficking, gang rape or aggravated pimping, said sources familiar with the matter.
Since the start of the investigations carried out by the gendarmes of the Paris research section, more than forty victims have joined as civil parties, as well as associations.
Twelve men, actors, directors, producers, are prosecuted in this exceptional case by its magnitude.
The vast majority are incarcerated.
Suspicions of pimping
Among them, the producers nicknamed "Pascal OP" and "Mat Hadix", very well known in this porn scene which plays with the image of amateurism.
According to elements of the investigation revealed by the press and of which AFP was aware, the platform of "Pascal OP", "French Bukkake", named after a sexual practice, first attracted the attention of investigators.
A subscription allowed customers to participate in priority to these collective ejaculations, with places reserved for sessions without condoms.
This system aimed at making individuals pay in exchange for organized sexual relations has fueled, in the eyes of the courts, suspicions of pimping.
Manipulation and lies
To find "actresses" for filming, a modus operandi was identified by the investigators: a tout, posing as an "ally" woman, "Axelle", convinced these women met on the internet, often with difficult and destitute life, to prostitute themselves.
This tout then turned into a client and obtained from them a sexual service aimed at removing their reluctance to paid sex.
After leaving them without pay, “Axelle” contacted them again to suggest a new way to bail out, via high-paying porn videos for Canada.
But the film ended up being accessible everywhere, including in France.
Meeting rape
Subject to lengthy analyzes by the gendarmes of the Paris research section, the videos produced "really questioned the consent of young women to the various sexual services", since in certain passages, they verbally opposed sexual practices that were imposed.
The legal qualification of these practices as rape is a novelty, in the opinion of several actors in the case.
The French porn industry has been in the spotlight for two years: another survey carried out in Paris since July 2020 targets “Jacquie et Michel”, the embodiment in France of amateur porn and tricolor pillar of this industry.
A report on the pornography industry
In June, four men, including the founder of the site, Michel Piron, were indicted in an open judicial investigation, in particular for aggravated pimping, trafficking in human beings in an organized gang, rape with torture and acts of barbarism.
After the revelations about the violence and practices imposed during filming, major French groups in the sector, such as “Jacquie et Michel” but also Dorcel, announced in November 2020 their desire to adopt ethical and deontological charters.
The political world has also taken up the subject, since the delegation for women's rights in the Senate is due to present its report on the pornography industry on Wednesday.
The difficult removal of images online
During a hearing in June as part of this work, Hélène Collet, deputy prosecutor at the Paris prosecutor's office in charge of the "French Bukkake" file, had mentioned the "significant means" and the "considerable work" on this investigation.
"One issue lies in the withdrawal of the videos", source of "many legal problems, especially if the host of the platform is abroad", underlined the representative of the public prosecutor's office.
"It's endless," lamented a civil party lawyer.
He specified that this question was crucial for the plaintiffs, who would have paid the producers to obtain the withdrawal of the diffusion of the images on their site… Without any effect on the rest of the Net where the video had been duplicated.
A source familiar with the matter indicated that the arrests on Tuesday could be the last, before the prospect of a trial at the assizes.
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Justice
Porn
Violence against women
Sexual violence
Rape
Pimping