Bolhem Bouchiba, a key veteran of Disney and Pixar animation studios, is currently awaiting trial in Paris. He is accused of having ordered the r*pe of hundreds of young girls in the Philippines through live streaming.
Prior to his arrest, Bouchiba, 59, had been a key animator at Disney and Pixar for decades. At Disney, he was an animator on Esmerelda in The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Hades in Hercules, and the title character of Tarzan, as well as supervising animator of Jumba in Lilo & Stitch. He also animated on the Oscar-nominated shorts Lorenzo and Runaway Brain.
Europol, the law enforcement agency of the European Union, started investigating Bouchiba in 2019, when they noticed suspicious movements of funds to the Philippines, according to an exclusive report in Le Figaro, France's oldest and second-largest national newspaper. The investigation revealed that he had been paying for remote sexual abuse of minors, aged three to fifteen years old. The number of live streams that he conducted number in the hundreds and could reach as many as a thousand children, according to investigators.
Bouchiba, who referred to children as "pigs" admitted during his interrogations that the children whose abuse he ordered were "scared" and often crying. "It's horrible what's happening to them," he said, "and I think they express it to the adult and the adult, most of the time, doesn't stop."
More details on Bouchiba's actions can be found in the original Figaro report. Suffice to say, the acts were barbaric and depraved beyond comprehension, and unnecessary to reprint here.
His trial is set to take place October 29-31. If found guilty, Bouchiba could serve up to twenty years in prison.
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