A French left-wing activist homosexual paedophile accused of raping and torturing very young children has been attacked by other inmates while awaiting trial in prison.
Pierre-Alain Cottineau, 34, a former candidate and active member of far-left party La France Insoumise (LFI), which is linked to an anti-fascist group that killed nationalist activist Quentin Deranque in a mob attack in Lyon in February, has been in pre-trial detention since September 2024.
But despite being in a protected unit, Cottineau was beaten while in the exercise yard of the prison in Brest last week, and was then hospitalised after trying to take his own life, Ouest France reported.
The prosecutor’s office confirmed he was in hospital, and said his condition was not life-threatening, but said no further information could be released for privacy and medical confidentiality reasons.
Cottineau, who was an accredited foster parent, is accused of repeatedly raping a four-year-old disabled girl in his care, and being the ringleader of a child sex trafficking ring allegedly involving four other men, with between three and six male and female victims, the youngest being a boy just five months of age.
He was arrested after police identified the girl from a video of the abuse posted online, and he then confessed to drugging and gang-raping a three-year-old boy with two other men, and admitted having paedophilic inclinations for “several years”, Le Parisien and Le Point reported.
His mother also told police she had reported Cottineau for sexually assaulting a four-year-old child who was in her care when he was 15, just months after he told his parents he was homosexual.
Cottineau is facing charges including aggravated rape of minors involving acts of torture or barbarity, human trafficking as part of an organised group, and corruption of a minor, but no trial date has been set.
The four other men, aged between 32 and 53, one a convicted paedophile from Belgium, allegedly travelled to Cottineau’s home in the town of Oudon to sexually abuse his foster children, and are all also in pre-trial detention.
The far-left paedophile has a daughter of his own, who he shared custody of with a lesbian couple living in a neighbouring town, but there is no evidence to suggest she suffered abuse.
Cottineau ran as an LFI candidate in 2021, organised his region’s first “gay pride” event in 2022, and was president of LGBT rights organisation Rainbow Spirit until stepping down when he received his foster carer accreditation in December 2023.
The alleged abuse took place between then and September 2024, and the disabled girl was placed in his care months before his arrest.
Header image: Left, right, Pierre-Alain Cottineau.
