Paris court jails Indian man for leading neo-Nazi sadist group that tortured girls

A Paris court on Friday sentenced Rohan Rane, a 29-year-old Indian man, to 20 years in prison for leading a masculinist group (one promoting male supremacy) that coerced young girls, many of them minors, into sexual acts and in some cases tortured them. Prosecutors had requested 30 years. They described Rane as a neo-Nazi with a taste for sadism and macabre ultra-violence.

What the court found

After five days of hearings, held largely behind closed doors, the court convicted Rane of offences including extortion as part of an organised gang, with the aggravating circumstances of torture and barbarity. The court heard that most of the dozens of victims were American girls, many under 15. Other young male members of the group came from the United States, India, Germany and New Zealand. About 20 victims were identified, but others could not be reached. Six of the girls, now aged 18 to 21, filed formal complaints.

How the group operated

According to prosecutors, the "CVLT" group was driven by nihilism, racism, anti-Semitism, Nazi aesthetics and values, and hatred of feminists and the LGBTQ+ community. It became active before the Covid-19 pandemic on the Discord platform, with Rane as leader. He had come to France to study at a business school in the southern town of Antibes and later worked as a sports coach.

Vulnerable victims were singled out on online forums and persuaded to send nude images. The men then threatened to tell the girls' families and school friends unless they complied. Investigators said many of the girls were black or Jewish. They were forced into sexual acts or to harm themselves with knives, including carving their tormentors' names or a swastika into their skin. The men, who called themselves "war lords", accompanied these scenes with insults and jeering.

The investigation

The US National Center for Missing and Exploited Children first raised the alarm over "CVLT" in 2020, after finding online images of a 12-year-old girl with the name "Rohan" carved into her skin. Rane was first arrested in France in 2021, and US authorities passed on information about his leadership of the group and his boasts about fulfilling his "sadism". A 26-year-old American member of the group is in prison in the US for the 2021 rape of a 12-year-old.

The French hearings stayed closed following a US request, although some American victims had asked for the case to be made a public example. The court heard that victims, witnesses and even some US prosecutors had been threatened. US authorities have said they will seek Rane's extradition once he has served his sentence in France.