PARIS – Seventeen men have been ordered to stand trial in France on charges of rape and other crimes committed in the production of online pornography, sources close to the case told AFP on Thursday.

Accusations against the men include rape, gang rape, human trafficking and aggravated pimping, committed during video production for the “French Bukkake” platform, according to prosecution documents.

The decision for a trial comes almost a year after French police made several arrests as part of a wider investigation into violence and human trafficking in France’s pornography industry.

Four of the men are now in prison.

The accused include the top manager of the platform, his associate, a talent recruiter and about 10 porn actors.

Prosecutors say the recruiter lured young, economically vulnerable women into participating in the filming of the videos in the full knowledge that they would be subjected to “aggravated rape”, according to the prosecution document.

Investigators believe the women were told the videos would be accessible only on private Canadian websites.

In fact, the films were viewable in France and the producers demanded large sums of cash from the women to remove them – only for the images to continue to circulate online.

Prosecutors said the use of alcohol and drugs was commonplace during the shoots.

Female actors told prosecutors they had not been warned before going on set of the type of sexual acts expected of them.

“Sexual acts were performed on them without warning, without them being able to comprehend them, and therefore without being able to give their consent,” the document said.

“We were tortured,” one of the women told AFP. “I need the barbarity, and the sexist and racist hatred that I was the victim of, to be recognised and punished so I can live again.”

The term “Bukkake”, which means “splashing” in Japanese, refers to a sexual practice in which several men ejaculate on one person. AFP