The trial of a 45-year-old man who posed as a guardian to track down his victims in a major case of child sexual abuse began today in Cologne.
The man faces almost 100 charges of sexual abuse for offenses committed between 2005 and 2019. He posed as a babysitter on online platforms to contact families.
The married man from the town of Yermelscherzen near Cologne is suspected of exchanging child pornography and videos of "unimaginable brutality" with a large number of men.
Prosecutors are seeking up to 15 years in prison for the defendant, whose lawyer, before the start of the trial, declared that he would plead guilty.
The case took on huge proportions, as it led to numerous further investigations of other defendants.
In a separate case in Frankfurt today, four defendants were given stiff sentences for their involvement in an online child pornography platform known as Boystown.
A 49-year-old man from Bavaria was sentenced to 12 years in prison and a 42-year-old man from the northern city of Paderborn to 10.5 years.
Both men were charged with aggravated sexual abuse and child rape in addition to their involvement in the platform and will therefore be held in custody.
Another defendant – a 60-year-old man who had been arrested in Paraguay – was sentenced to eight years in prison, while a 66-year-old from Hamburg was sentenced to seven years.
Researchers managed to take down the platform last year. It was the largest online platform for child pornography, with 400,000 users from all over the world./ Prototema.gr