The defendants, in pre-trial detention, are accused of “rape and sexual assault with torture or acts of barbarity”.
Ten men aged between 29 and 50 were charged in Lille, northern France, in connection with a case of pedocriminality involving the chemical submission of a five-year-old child, the Public Prosecutor’s Office announced this Tuesday.
The investigation was opened on February 15, 2025, following a complaint about the organization of a “chemsex” party the day before in Lille.
“Chemsex” is characterized by the use of drugs during sexual intercourse to increase desire, pleasure and sensations, exposing participants to numerous health risks.
According to a statement from the Public Ministry, a five-year-old child “put into contact with male adults by his own father” would have suffered during this party “sexual violence aggravated by the use of chemical substances”.
On February 22, 2025, the Lille Public Prosecutor’s Office appealed to an investigating judge for facts that occurred in Lille between November 2024 and February 14, 2025, namely “rape and sexual assault with the administration of a substance to the victim, without her knowledge, to alter her judgment or control of her actions”.
The investigation is also led by “rape and sexual assault with torture or acts of barbarity” and “administration to a minor under 15 years of age, without their knowledge, of a substance capable of altering their judgment or control of their actions in order to commit rape or sexual assault”.
The maximum applicable penalty is life sentence for the crime of rape with acts of torture or barbarity, stated the Lille Public Prosecutor’s Office.
The investigation “confirmed the veracity of the facts” and led to the indictment of ten men, nine of whom were placed in preventive detention.
“One of the main defendants committed suicide on June 21, 2025” while he was in pre-trial detention.
The child was handed over to her mother, who had separated from her husband before the events.
“The mother is benefiting from specific care”, indicated the Public Ministry.
This case has a particular impact in France, following the ‘Pélicot Case’, which had great repercussions in the country.
Dominique Pélicot was sentenced in 2024 to 20 years in prison for drugging his wife Gisèle so that she could be raped by dozens of strangers in their home in Mazan (southeast), between 2011 and 2020.
