Another day in France, another minor revealed to me the victim of forced prostitution.
Five men are facing trial at the Rhône Assize Court from Oct. 26 to Nov. 2 on charges of aggravated pimping involving a 12-year-old girl, referred to by the pseudonym Louna. While the suspects are being prosecuted, none of her clients face charges.
Louna, a vulnerable out-of-school youth who was also the alleged victim of a gang rape at age 10, ran away twice in 2022. On June 17, 2022, she left a campsite in southern France where she was vacationing with her grandmother. Six days later, a client recognized her from a missing person flyer and notified authorities, writes Le Progres.
Police located Louna in a rundown apartment on Quai Gillet in Lyon’s 4th arrondissement, discovering physical injuries (bruises and knife cuts) and that she had cocaine in her bloodstream.
The minor told police that she was manipulated online by a 19-year-old named Moha, whom she believed was her boyfriend. Moha and three accomplices allegedly groomed her with promises of luxury items, coerced her into using cocaine, and managed her prostitution.
Using the now-defunct website Coco, she was forced to see roughly 30 clients in a single week. The suspects threatened her with physical violence if she did not generate €500 to €1,000 a day, monitoring her actions closely.
This is just the latest in a slew of sex crime cases involving minors. Back in 2022, 12-year-old Lola Daviet was brutally raped and murdered in Paris by an Algerian woman, with the case possibly linked to a North African custom involving the killing of a White child with blonde hair.
Grooming gangs have also been on the rise. Child prostitution in France has risen by 43 percent over the past four years. French police are identifying “younger and younger girls” being trafficked.
