Former DGSE agent imprisoned, suspected of ordering child rape

The man was arrested in Strasbourg on Monday and was placed in pre-trial detention on Friday, Strasbourg public prosecutor Clarisse Taron confirmed to AFP.

According to Le Parisien, the 58-year-old man was charged with "aggravated human trafficking," "rape and sexual assault of minors," and "capture, importation, and dissemination of a pornographic image of a minor using an electronic communications network."

Currently retired from the army, he is suspected of having ordered rapes of children in Africa, particularly in Kenya, where he went on professional missions, and "of having paid for and orchestrated sexual abuse from a distance, filmed scenes which he then consumed to satisfy his criminal urges" , according to the newspaper.

These videos were spotted on the Internet by an American foundation fighting against child crime, which then alerted the French police, particularly the Office for Minors (Ofmin), which led the investigation, according to Le Parisien.

Other cases involving "live-streaming," a practice that involves the sexual exploitation of a child, who is sexually abused remotely by Western nationals, have come to light in recent years.