“Dylan Thiry, I am in a zoom conference with deputies and organizations fighting against international human trafficking. It’s quite exciting dear Dydy. Have you done your packing or not yet? In the minutes (and days) that followed this teasing, rapper Booba frantically chained tweets, mixing videos and audio recording attributed to influencer Dylan Thiry. At the end of the day, charges of child trafficking against the former candidate of Koh-Lanta. In these recordings – of which he did not deny being the author – the former reality TV star explains to his interlocutor that he can help people to adopt in Madagascar, a country in which he has visited several times with its humanitarian association “For our children”.
In his voice message, the influencer cites among the potential adopters the name of Jazz Correira, another TV candidate. The young woman would have written to him, according to him, when he was “once in Dubai and once in Madagascar to adopt”. “I can get her to adopt. I make sure they (Jazz and her husband Laurent) ask for 100,000 euros, minimum, it’s really the minimum. And I tell them ‘come to Madagascar and they give me 100K and I do everything for them so that they can adopt and save a child. Tell me what you think,” he explains. “Afterwards, there are two things, already one, I take a big ticket, and I’m not saying it’s for me. I say that there are about 150,000 euros of documents to pay, to settle with the lawyers, while I take everything in my pocket. And the other thing is it saves a child, you know. These are the two things that are positive, ”he continues.
Child trafficking, not so obvious
And the young man does not stop there. He then explains to his interlocutor – his former agent who is the source of the leaks, according to him – how to get the children out of the country: “To save a little girl, I will take the passport of any friend who has a black daughter. He gives me, he’s going to make a statement of loss a little bit later. And with this passport, it’s as if I had come to Madagascar with her. And I am going back to Europe with her”.
” This is unacceptable. This is called child trafficking and no need to wait for an influencers law to prosecute those who are guilty of it, ”immediately reacted on Twitter, Stéphane Vojetta, the deputy for French people abroad (Renaissance).
Accompanied by Arthur Delaporte (PS), with whom he co-wrote the bill aimed at combating scams and excesses of influencers, he filed a report with the Paris prosecutor’s office on Wednesday, under article 40 of the code of criminal procedure. “These declarations, if they are followed by effects, could be similar to child trafficking, in particular prohibited by the International Convention on the Rights of the Child of 1989”, they wrote to the prosecutor Laure Beccuau.
Issue, the text, adopted by the United Nations, does not mention child trafficking nor does it give a definition. On the other hand, this treaty, signed by 197 countries – including Madagascar where the project was supposed and Luxembourg, of which Dylan Thiry has the nationality –, imposes “to ensure that the placements of children abroad are carried out by competent authorities or bodies”. France, for its part, has modified its legislation in February 2022, removing individual adoptions. “In other words, adoptions in foreign countries must be carried out with authorized bodies, both by France and by the country of origin, in this case Madagascar”, adds Sophie Herren, lawyer at the bar of Paris, specializing in family and children’s law. However, we are not getting too far in saying that neither Dylan Thiry nor his association are approved for international adoptions.
Determining whether the facts are qualified
The treaty also requires signatory countries to “take all appropriate measures to ensure that, in the event of adoption abroad, the placement of the child does not result in an undue material benefit for the persons who are responsible”. In summary, it is forbidden to make money on an adoption. If there are costs in some countries – mainly administrative costs, lawyers or translators -, we are very far from the 100,000 euros mentioned by Dylan Thiry: “In Madagascar, for example, you have to pay a donation of 800 euros the Malagasy Central Adoption Authority (ACAM)”, explains Anne Royal, president of the Childhood and Adoption Families Association (EFA)which specifies that these costs are highly regulated.
Especially since, since February 2022, adoptions in Madagascar are temporarily suspended for anyone residing in France: “We can no longer adopt in Madagascar since October 2022 and until October 2023”, recalls the specialist, specifying that the decision was taken after the publication of a UN report “which noted difficulties and irregularities in local adoptions”. The date of recording of these audios remains unknown for the moment.
But can we really speak of child trafficking? According to the definition given by United Nations Fact Sheet on Human Rights and Human Trafficking, child trafficking is characterized by an “action such as recruiting, buying and selling, that this action had the specific purpose of exploitation. In other words, there is trafficking if the child is subjected to any act, such as recruitment or transport, the end of which is the exploitation of this child”. On his side, Accurate Interpol that “trafficking in human beings takes place for specific purposes, such as sexual exploitation, labor exploitation, forced criminality and the removal of organs, among other forms of exploitation”. According to Ingrid Metton, lawyer in criminal law, immigration law and asylum law, from Chango law firm, contacted by our colleagues from Release“in a case like this, where the child is destined to be adopted and taken in by a family, the facts cannot be qualified as trafficking”.
And at this stage, it is still only allegations. It is therefore difficult to qualify them criminally. Did Dylan Thiry only mention this project to his interlocutor, did he try to set it up or did he go to the end? According to Jazz Correira’s version, she contacted the young man “two years ago”, only to find out “if he knew of associations linked to orphanages on site”, she explained to our colleagues. . But she claims never to have had a response and to have “discovered” the voice note. Whatever, for Sofia Massou, criminal lawyer at the Paris Bar, they can go to court, even if the facts are not yet detailed. “That’s the whole point of the investigation. It is the investigations that will make it possible to determine whether the facts are characterized or not. If this is the case, that there are enough incriminating elements, there may be a referral to a court, ”explains the lawyer.
The competent French justice?
And even if the facts would be characterized, it is still necessary that the French justice is competent. And for that, “the victim or the alleged perpetrator must be of French nationality or the place of commission of the offense must be in France”, explains Sofia Massou. However, Dylan Thiry is Luxembourgish, he lives in Dubai, and the supposed facts – if they took place – would have taken place in Madagascar.
For persons of foreign nationality, the jurisdiction of French courts only concerns offenses committed in France. “The other possibility would be that he canvassed a Frenchman”, specifies the lawyer. And for the moment, there is no evidence to confirm this. In some cases, French justice may be competent to judge offenses committed outside French soil, by foreign nationals on foreign victims: “There are a certain number of crimes where there is an extraterritoriality, such as crimes against the humanity, terrorism or torture”, adds master Sofia Massou.
Stéphane Vojetta, he wants above all to fight against impunity. “These influencers hide behind extraterritoriality, most of them being in Dubai. Justice may find that there are grounds for prosecution, but that it is not competent. In this case, it could seize its counterparts in Luxembourg or Dubai, ”he hopes. The seizure obviously has little chance of succeeding, but Dylan Thiry still remains in the sights of justice. Suspected of having hijacked online pots launched for so-called humanitarian trips, the 28-year-old influencer is already the subject of five complaints for breach of trust.