Reporter Saskia Belleman is present at the trial. Follow the case via her tweets at the bottom of this article.
Through the Darkscandals site, M. – alias Mr. Dark – offered videos of rapes. “Muslim girl raped by friend”, or “Girl raped while crying”. Customers who supplied extreme images themselves received the offer for free. But it had to be real. The pain had to be visible. If not, he turned down the videos.
The police tracked him down in 2018 thanks to the United States. There was an investigation into a video of a rape of a 13-year-old American girl. The track led to the Netherlands. The US Europoldesk informed the authorities in the Netherlands. Michael M. was not arrested until March 2020: a year and a half after the US sounded the alarm.
The court has set aside four days for the case. On Wednesday Michael M. will hear what punishment the Public Prosecution Service has in mind for him.