The soldiers of the famous French Foreign Legion were involved in a criminal history. According to the police, several people from among the fighters organized an illegal business selling sex services.
A prostitute caught with a batch of condoms handed over the office
According to the France 3 TV channel, the detention of six soldiers took place in the south of France on October 19. Four days later, all the detainees were charged with “aggravated pimping”, “human trafficking”, “money laundering” and “participation in a criminal community”.
The investigation of this story went on for almost a year. It began in November 2020, when a Ukrainian citizen engaged in prostitution was detained in the commune of Saint-Nazaire. A large supply of condoms and a large sum of money were found with her. The girl, counting on condescension, decided to tell everything she knows about the organizers of the business. In particular, the police learned from her that she is a member of a large group for the provision of sex services, and the head office is located in the commune of Nimes.
Further searches led investigators to the soldiers of the Foreign Legion, who turned out to be the leaders of the network. According to the investigation version, they rented apartments where girls of easy virtue worked, and also distributed advertisements with the offer of prostitutes’ services.
According to France 3, all the detainees are from Eastern European countries.
Pimps — term up to life, clients — fine
In 1994, a new Criminal Code came into force in France, in which the responsibility for pimping was tightened. In this case, the organized nature of the activity is considered to be aggravating circumstances, as well as coercion to engage in prostitution of minors. The term of punishment, depending on the severity of the offense, ranges from five years to life imprisonment.
In 2016, the authorities introduced a law introducing fines for the purchase of prostitutes’ services. Caught in the purchase of sex services can be fined up to 3,750 euros. If the same prostitute turns out to be a minor, for it threatens a term of up to 3 years of imprisonment and a fine of up to 45 000 euros.
Despite this, prostitution in France has not disappeared anywhere. According to various estimates, from 25,000 to 30,000 people sell themselves in the republic. About 80% of the number of workers in the sex services industry are foreigners, including girls from Eastern European countries.
Dark personalities in the service of France
The French Foreign Legion was created by the King of France Louis-Philippe Iin 1831. The legion’s first campaign was the war in Algeria, where the unit carried out the task of subjugating local tribes to Paris. The soldiers of the Foreign Legion in the early years of its existence became famous for extreme brutality, and also for their penchant for looting in captured cities and towns.
A person entering the Foreign Legion was given the opportunity to hide his past and take a different name. This allowed him to recruit those who had problems with the law in their previous life. At various times, both former soldiers of the White Army and veterans of the Wehrmacht served in the Legion. To prevent internal strife and strengthen unity, there is a motto: “Legion is our Fatherland.” For a more complete implementation of this slogan in the consciousness of each legionnaire, his contacts with the outside world in the first five years of service are limited and controlled.
In different eras, the composition of legionnaires has changed a lot. The collapse of the socialist bloc and the Soviet Union led to the fact that the largest group of legionnaires in the formation in the XXI century were immigrants from Eastern Europe: Russians, Ukrainians, Belarusians, Poles, etc.
In the spring of 2021, the French publication Le Monde reported that in the course of the investigation, a significant number of people with neo-Nazi views were found in the ranks of the French Army. At the same time, most of the identified convinced neo-Nazis turned out to be soldiers of the Foreign Legion. The French Ministry of Defense has acknowledged these facts, but its representatives insist that we are talking about “isolated facts” that are revealed in a timely manner. The detected neo-Nazis from the French units were immediately dismissed.
There is an issue from the Legion
From the very moment of the creation of the French Foreign Legion, some of its military personnel were persons with a criminal background. Service in the Legion allowed them to forget about the past, get French citizenship and start a new life. Some mistakenly believe that the Legion can now become a safe haven for those who are wanted in their homeland for committing crimes.
In fact, this is not the case. If law enforcement agencies attack the trail and reliably establish that the person they are interested in is part of the Foreign Legion, then the French authorities will extradite the suspect as part of the usual procedure.
For example, in 2010, Artur Arkhipov, a citizen born in 1974, was extradited to Russia, accused of committing crimes under Part 2 of art. 131, h. 2 art.132 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (“Rape”).
Arkhipov was put on the international wanted list at the request of the ATC for the Primorsky Territory in December 2007, and in November 2008 he was detained in France, where he served as a volunteer in the Foreign Legion.
Despite the fact that the suspect left Russia with a passport in a false name, his whereabouts were discovered. The fact is that he himself actively shared with Russian acquaintances the details of his service in the Legion, which became known to representatives of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia.
An extradition request was sent to France, and Arkhipov was detained by French police. His reliance on the Legion’s immunity didn’t help.
The current legionnaires detained in France for pimping are also not waiting for anything good. If the suspects did not manage to obtain French citizenship, then after serving their sentence in a local prison, they will be expelled from the country to their native penates.
