Arrested Thursday, a mayor of Côtes-d’Armor suspected of sectarian practices was indicted particularly for abuse of weak spot on a number of ladies, and rape on at the very least one in every of them, the general public prosecutor’s workplace mentioned on Monday. Toulon (Our). His continued pre-trial detention was ordered by the decide of freedoms and detention, added Raphaël Balland, the prosecutor, in a press launch.
The suspect, aged round twenty, is suspected of getting led, from the south of France, a sectarian group organized round a dialogue group created on a social community. He now resides in Côtes-d’Armor, the place he was arrested final week and “the place he was just lately elected mayor of a small city”, the prosecution indicated on Thursday.
No less than six younger ladies alleged victims
In line with the each day West Franceit’s the mayor of Tréogan, who gained the municipal elections in March on this small city of round 100 inhabitants. Investigators have recognized at the very least six younger feminine victims of the suspect between 2017 and 2026.
One in every of them, a 21-year-old scholar, filed a criticism in 2022 within the Mayenne division. She accused a person of “threatening to kill” her if she left the dialogue group “structured by a hierarchical group” and having the acknowledged goal of “assembly individuals with excessive mental potential”, in response to the prosecution.
The members, “followers of spirituality and philosophy, had been promised the opportunity of reaching the ‘fifth stage of final training’ on situation of following the instructing of this man, who would have demanded ‘whole devotion’ from sure ladies, recognizing him as ‘absolutely the’ and the ‘divine'”, in response to this similar supply.
The investigation continues
Along with controlling their intimate lives, the defendant additionally allegedly extracted cash from them, as much as a number of thousand euros for one in every of them. “One in every of these ladies additionally claimed to have skilled psychological violence and to have suffered sexual acts below duress,” the prosecution mentioned.
The suspect was indicted on prices of “abuse of weak spot by the chief of ‘a gaggle pursuing actions creating, now, or exploiting the psychological subjection of the members'”, loss of life threats in opposition to one of many victims, blackmail in opposition to two of them, in addition to rape and sexual assault to the detriment of one of many complainants between 2022 and 2025, when she was between 17 and 20 years previous. The investigations will proceed below the authority of an investigating Justice of the Peace.
