🇫🇷🔴 This far-left French politician just tried to kill himself in prison while facing charges of sexual torture of toddlers, child trafficking, and running a pedophile ring.
His case is one of the most disturbing in French criminal history.
Pierre-Alain Cottineau, a former candidate for France Unbowed (LFI), is accused of providing forster services in order to facilitate rape, torture, and abuse of babies and toddlers, including those with disabilities, in a case that investigators say "pushed all the limits of horror."
The suicide attempt took place on Sept. 15, 2026, in the exercise yard of Brest prison.
The attempt came days after other prisoners physically attacked him, according to Ouest-France news outlet.
Cottineau, an advocate for LGBT rights before his arrest, has been in pretrial detention since his arrest on Sept. 23, 2024, at Nantes airport after returning from Tunisia.
Investigators from France’s Office for Minors (OFMIN) identified him from images circulating online. He was immediately placed under formal investigation for rape of minors with acts of torture or barbarity and for human trafficking by an organized group.
Subsequent digital forensics on his phone led police to additional footage posted in a Telegram group allegedly administered by Cottineau.
One video reportedly showed the abuse of a five-month-old baby boy, identified as the first foster child placed in his care. Other footage featured multiple men participating in the abuse of a toddler, with one scene showing the child crawling on all fours, wearing a collar and leash.
The case, described by investigators as pushing “all the limits of horror,” first came to light in September 2024 when Dutch police discovered an appalling video depicting serious child sexual abuse of a very young child on the darknet. The child, who was believed to be around three years old, appeared to be disabled and reliant on a gastric feeding tube.
According to Le Parisien, one of the accused claimed that Cottineau sedated the children using Xanax, sleeping pills, and poppers hidden in yogurt before the abuse took place.
The Nantes investigation remains open. In early September 2026, Ouest-France reported that prosecutors had added a charge of corruption of a minor.
Four other men, aged between 32 and 53, have also been placed under investigation in the same case.
Identified victims include children between five months and four years old, among them a disabled girl placed with Cottineau by child-welfare services after he obtained approval to foster children in December 2023.
During police interviews he admitted some of the alleged acts and said he had pedophilic urges for years, according to reporting by Le Parisien and Libération. A court-appointed psychiatrist found no mental illness but a sexual-preference disorder with “major potential dangerousness.” The expert said his judgment was not impaired at the time of the alleged acts.
Before his arrest, Cottineau was a familiar figure in the Ancenis area. A former nursing assistant, he obtained departmental approval to foster children and presented himself as an advocate for child protection and LGBT rights.
He co-founded a local LGBT association and helped organize pride events.
In 2021, during departmental elections, he ran for the LFI party in Ancenis-Saint-Géréon, taking 9.81% of the first-round vote.
Their political platform included environmental issues, local democracy, and support for women facing domestic violence.
LFI has since excluded him.
Investigative pieces in a wide variety of French news outlets, such as Le Point and Libération, later examined how earlier reports about him did not lead to an arrest before September 2024, including a July 2024 statement by a former partner at a police station in Morbihan detailing child abuse allegations.
Ouest-France linked last week’s assault on Cottineau to the current crowded prison conditions, without naming the attackers or detailing injuries suffered by Cottineau.
The investigation into Cottineau is still open. He remains innocent until proven guilty.
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