PARIS (AFP) – A French court sentenced a graphic artist who worked on beloved animated feature films for Pixar and Disney to 25 years in jail for ordering the livestreamed rape of preteen girls in the Philippines.
The Paris court late Thursday found Bouhalem Bouchiba guilty of complicity in the rape of hundreds of girls and in human trafficking and of viewing child pornography online.
Bouchiba, 59, had confessed to the charges during the four-day trial.
“I am aware of everything I did. I ask the victims’ forgiveness,” he told the court.
Bouchiba worked at the Pixar and Disney animation studios, contributing to blockbusters like 2004 hit “The Incredibles” and “Ratatouille”, released in 2007.
“One the one hand you have a graphic artist who delighted children,” said state prosecutor Philippe Courroye.
“On the other, Bouhalem Bouchiba was a paedophile film maker who staged his own horror movies.”
He was convicted of paying women in the Philippines between 2012 and 2021 to rape and sexually assault girls aged between five and 10 in front of a camera while he watched via livestream and issued instructions.
Bouchiba admitted during his testimony that the violence resembled “torture”.
Each show cost between EUR50 and 100 (USD54-108), with the total Bouchiba spent on the performances coming to just over EUR50,000.
Police became interested in Bouchiba when Europol, the European Union’s law enforcement agency, sent out an alert about suspicious money transfers to the Philippines.
On October 4, 2021, Bouchiba — who was living in the United States at the time — was arrested at San Francisco’s airport and extradited to France.
The suspect was already known to police, having been found guilty in 2009 of the sexual abuse of his stepdaughter.
