Frankfurt/Main (dpa/lhe) – In the trial against four alleged operators of the child pornographic platform “Boystown” on the dark web, the hearing of evidence before the Frankfurt Regional Court has been completed. On Wednesday afternoon, the Attorney General’s office should begin with their plea. However, out of consideration for the victims, all closing speeches should be held behind closed doors.
In the process, four men aged 41 to 66 have to answer. The accused come from Hamburg, the district of Paderborn, the district of Mühldorf am Inn, the 60-year-old main suspect last lived in Paraguay. They are said to have built and operated the platform with more than 400,000 members from all over the world. When the Federal Criminal Police Office and the Frankfurt Public Prosecutor’s Office shut down the platform in April 2021, there were more than a million forum posts there.
While three of the accused admitted the crimes in the process, but did not comment further, a 41-year-old man from the Paderborn district made statements to the court, partly like the reading of the indictment in private hearings.
A 49-year-old defendant is said to have been responsible for operating the server and worked as a moderator and administrator in the forum. The indictment also accuses him of serious sexual violence against children. Between 2005 and 2008 and between 2019 and 2021, he is said to have sexually abused two children, some of them severely, in at least 17 cases. In some cases he is said to have taken pictures and shared them with others via messenger service.
The 41-year-old is said to have sexually abused two children and checked the members’ posts on “Boystown”. The oldest accused is said to have been one of the most active users of the platform and to have written more than 3600 posts.
