France: Man sentenced to 19 years in prison for raping and prostituting his son

The criminal court of Jura sentenced a 53-year-old man to 19 years in prison on Tuesday for raping his son when he was between the ages of 7 and 14 and forcing him into prostitution, according to his lawyer.

Arnaud Monier had been on trial behind closed doors since October 1st for rape, sexual assault, pimping and corruption of minors, committed between early 2016 and June 2023.

The court's verdict is close to the sentence requested by the public prosecutor, who asked for 20 years imprisonment.

This sentence includes a mandatory minimum term of two-thirds.

"It is very severe but understandable given the circumstances, the facts which are very serious," she told AFP.

His two co-defendants, also in their fifties, were sentenced to 8 and 6 years in prison, lawyer Marjorie Weiermann also indicated.

They were accused of repeatedly raping the boy and one of his friends, who were then aged between 11 and 15.

The main suspect, who had regained custody of his son at the time of the child's alcoholic mother's death, also forced the two teenagers to have paid sexual relations with men contacted on the website coco.fr , whom they met in a forest.

He acknowledged "generally" the acts committed against his son and his friend, but partially contested the accusations relating to other young people, Ms. Weiermann indicated.

He was convicted on all the charges against him, including those he contested "and which were debatable," according to his lawyer.

"In hindsight, he became aware of the full abnormality of his behavior and the harm he did to the minors," she said.

He fled to Chile in 2023 after learning that a complaint had been filed against him. The Chilean justice system agreed to extradite him to France the following year.

His son, now 17 years old, was then entrusted to an uncle.

AFP