Advertisement
SKIP ADVERTISEMENT
You have a preview view of this article while we are checking your access. When we have confirmed access, the full article content will load.
The site, coco.fr, was shut down in June after being linked to more than 23,000 sexual abuse and other cases in France alone, including the rape trial that shocked the country last year.
Gisèle Pelicot leaving the courthouse in Avignon, France, after a hearing in November. Credit… Christophe Simon/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images Jan. 9, 2025
The founder of the website used by Dominique Pelicot to invite dozens of men to rape his wife after he’d drugged her was indicted on Thursday in France on myriad charges, including some related to that case.
If found guilty, he faces up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to 7.5 million euros, or about $7.7 million.
The site’s founder, Isaac Steidl, 44, was released from jail on Thursday. The investigating judge’s office said he was placed under “judicial supervision,” had to pay a bail of 100,000 euros and was barred from leaving France.
The website he created in 2003, called coco.fr, became notorious in France during the trial of Mr. Pelicot and 50 other men, who were all found guilty last month, mostly for raping Mr. Pelicot’s now ex-wife, Gisèle, while she was heavily sedated.
One of the charges against Mr. Steidl that is related to the Pelicot case is administering an online platform to enable an illicit transaction by an organized gang. Among the other charges he faces are complicity in drug trafficking, complicity in the possession and distribution of child pornography, aggravated pimping and aggravated money laundering.
Mr. Steidl “firmly denies the accusations made against him, and undertakes to cooperate fully to demonstrate his lack of responsibility for the alleged offenses,” his lawyer, Julien Zanatta, told Agence France-Presse.
Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.
Thank you for your patience while we verify access.
Already a subscriber? Log in.
Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Advertisement
SKIP ADVERTISEMENT
