Paris court opens closed-door trial of Rohan Rane over Discord abuse network

Charges and courtroom proceedings

The trial of 29-year-old Indian national Rohan Rane opened on 5 October 2026 at the specially composed Paris Assize Court. Rane faces charges of torture and acts of barbarity against minors, organized corruption of minors, and organized extortion for offenses committed between 2019 and 2021. If convicted, the defendant faces a maximum penalty of life imprisonment. The court ordered the proceedings to take place entirely behind closed doors following formal requests from French prosecutors and United States authorities. The presiding judge granted the closure to protect victims, witnesses, and prosecutors from intimidation after individuals associated with Rane's network made threats on American soil. The trial is scheduled to run throughout the week, with a final verdict expected on Friday.

Online network and extortion methods

Investigators identified Rane as the central leader of an online network that coordinated abuse through the messaging platform Discord under the group name CVLT. The network included young men based in Germany, New Zealand, and the United States who propagated neo-Nazi, anti-Semitic, and masculinist ideologies. Group members systematically targeted vulnerable teenage girls, aged between 12 and 18, whom they located through Instagram and online forums. Once victims were persuaded to share intimate photos, group members initiated blackmail campaigns through doxing and threats of swatting, falsely directing armed police to the victims' homes. Under coercion, victims were ordered to perform sexual acts on camera, carve Rane's name and swastikas into their skin with razor blades, and inflict self-harm with knives and blunt objects.

Investigation and transatlantic arrests

The international investigation began in November 2020 after Google reported an abusive video involving a 12-year-old victim to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. American federal authorities analyzed multiple video files and traced the primary user accounts to an apartment in Antibes in southeastern France. Rane, an Indian national who had moved to France to study at a local business school before working as a fitness trainer, conducted the operations from his bedroom. Following an alert from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, French police arrested Rane in Antibes in 2021. Rane admitted his involvement during earlier court appearances, describing himself as a fascist and a psychopath devoid of emotion. An initial proceeding before the departmental criminal court in November 2025 was subsequently transferred to the assize court to address the full severity of the felony charges.

Civil parties and judicial cooperation

The criminal network targeted at least 13 young girls across the United States, Britain, the Netherlands, and Estonia. Five American victims, now aged between 18 and 21, joined the Paris proceedings as civil parties to seek accountability. Their attorney, Hippolyte Marquetty, opposed the closed-door ruling, arguing that public proceedings were vital to expose the mechanics of online predatory grooming.

My clients consider it important to raise awareness of the dangers teenage girls face on social media.

French prosecutors maintained that excluding the public was necessary to protect the safety of the victims and preserve bilateral judicial cooperation with United States agencies. The court confirmed that video recordings documenting the physical abuse and humiliation of the underage victims will be reviewed in private sessions before the judges reach their verdict.