Police have their hands tied They drug their wives, rape them and share the recordings - without consequences
In online forums and chat groups, men share videos in which they rape drugged women. The first perpetrators are on trial in Germany. This form of abuse is apparently not yet an issue in Swiss law enforcement.
No time? blue News summarizes for you
- Journalists uncover a large network of men who drug and rape women, film their acts and distribute them online; so-called "sleep content" videos achieve millions of views. One perpetrator abused his wife for over 15 years without her knowing about it.
- Investigations reveal thousands of videos and chat groups with tens of thousands of members in which perpetrators share tips and glorify their actions; some have been convicted, but many activities are ongoing.
- Swiss law enforcement authorities do not see this type of sexualized violence as a focus of their work. Experts warn that legal hurdles and a lack of pressure protect perpetrators in the anonymity of the internet.
Gisèle Pélicot 's rapist is behind bars, as are dozens, if not all, of his accomplices. However, there are still men who drug and sexually abuse women close to them and trade in images of them. Millions watch so-called sleep content - rapes of women who have been rendered unconscious.
German journalists Isabell Beer and Isabel Ströh have been researching the topic for several years. Because they came across masses of the most serious crimes, they also informed the Federal Criminal Police Office and later the Hamburg police. In one case, they are certain that the rapes are taking place in Germany. They named the perpetrator as Nils, who had drugged and raped his wife for 15 years.
Finally, the police in Lower Saxony take action, find Nils and open proceedings against him. The videos of his wife's abuse have been viewed 14 million times. In chat groups, he also gave other men tips on how to anaesthetize women and gave disturbingly condescending accounts of how his wife was feeling the day after the rapes.
It was only after his arrest and confession that his wife found out what he had done to her.
She had to see chat messages from him to believe that the man she loved had actually done this to her, she says in the ARD documentary "The rapist network: What are the police and politicians doing?". It was only when she saw texts from him, in which she recognized him without a doubt due to certain information and the language used, that her love for him turned into contempt.
"At some point, he would have killed me," she continues. Until then, she repeatedly suffered from inexplicable headaches caused by her husband beating her while she was sedated. She also sometimes had diarrhea because her husband had given her too high a dose of the anesthetic. He made fun of this in chat groups. The police found hundreds of prescription pills in the couple's house, she continues.
Rape videos freely available online
One of the groups in which men share their abuse videos and discuss them has over 70,000 members. Some clips have been viewed millions of times. Including those of Nils. He died at the age of 60 in a self-inflicted accident before the arrest warrant could be executed, writes ARD's "Tagesschau".
The investigative journalists posed as users and communicated with users in chat groups on Telegram. Media professionals from CNN did the same. They read along when men exchange tips on how to drug and abuse women without them realizing it. "They treat the videos like commodities," the report describes.
More than 20,000 videos are available on the website, known as sleep content. According to the report, these videos achieved hundreds of thousands of views. In February 2026 alone, the website recorded 62 million visits.
According to a spokesperson for the Federal Criminal Police Office, a high double-digit number of investigations are now underway in Germany. In Germany, six members of a closed Telegram group have already been convicted in 2026 for discussing how they drugged and raped women, as reported by "Hessenschau ".
They call the rapes "driving cars", the women "cars", and when drugged they call them "dead pigs". Several experienced officers had left the investigation because they could no longer bear the video recordings.
The legal situation
In Germany, the possession of rape videos and, in certain cases, even their distribution is not a punishable offence. Katrin Wahlmann, Minister of Justice in the federal state of Lower Saxony, where Nils was caught, wants to make this a punishable offence, just as is the case with child pornography.
The situation is different in Switzerland, as a question from National Councillor Gabriela Suter (SP/AG) in the National Council has shown. In its answer, the Federal Council explains that the possession or distribution of a video showing the rape of an adult (including a "chemical submission") could be punishable under various provisions. A long list follows:
- the violation of the secret or private sphere by recording devices is present.
- It must be assumed that the person in the image has not given consent to the recording
- Possession or making available of recordings with knowledge of their criminal origin.
- Showing or making available such recordings to a person under the age of 16.
- Unauthorized forwarding of non-public sexual content.
- Depictions of violence in accordance with Article 135 of the Swiss Criminal Code, insofar as the video depicts violent acts in a graphic manner.
- And finally: "Depending on the type of sexual acts performed on the anaesthetized victim, the act is to be qualified as rape (Art. 190 para. 2 and 3 StGB) or sexual assault (Art. 189 para. 2 and 3 StGB)."
There is therefore more than enough legal means to prosecute the production and distribution of rape videos. But then the question arises as to how this can be done in the anonymity of the internet. How can the perpetrators be arrested? And is there a way to shut down platforms that offer such videos?
blue News posed these questions to the Federal Office for Cyber Security and several cantonal police forces. The answers show that this type of offense is not a focus of crime prevention and prosecution in Switzerland.
Swiss authorities turn away requests
The Federal Office for Cyber Security refers to the cantonal law enforcement authorities. The cantonal police of Basel-Stadt report that the public prosecutor's office is responsible. The latter explains: "There are no anomalies in Basel-Stadt relating to the offense you have asked about." Due to the high case load of the authority, the head of communications asks the journalist to continue his research in another canton.
The St. Gallen police force replied that it had not dealt with any such cases. The spokesperson therefore sees no reason to go into this further. Kapo Aargau expressed a similar view: "In contrast to child abuse and the resulting child pornography", the phenomenon is not present in Aargau. Investigation without suspicion is a task for the whole of Switzerland and cannot be assigned to one canton. "Against this backdrop, we see no reason to delve deeper into the topic."
The Zurich cantonal police refer to an online form from the Federal Office of Police Fedpol, which can be used to report illegal pornography. Illegal pornography should also be reported to the channel operator.
However, reporting to the channel operator in no way helps the women who are drugged and raped by their husbands without their knowledge. These cases go beyond the presentation of illegal content. They are crimes that are committed without the victims being aware of it. The women who are drugged will not make a complaint as long as they do not know what is being done to them.
«Against this background, we see no reason to go into the subject in depth.»
Andrea Blaser from the women's counselling service Sexual Violence in Zurich told blue News: "We have cases in our counselling service that indicate that we also have this digital form of sexualized violence in Switzerland." In order for perpetrators to be convicted, either the women themselves have to file a complaint or the law enforcement authorities have to investigate after receiving information about the crime by other means.
Rape shown online is an official offense
The law enforcement authorities certainly have more than enough to do with crimes that are easier to uncover. In Germany, too, it took over a year and several tips from the reporters before police forces in various federal states began investigations.
Prior to this, the two journalists had communicated undercover with a rapist and thus gained the certainty that he was committing his crimes in Germany. Swiss investigators would therefore first have to gather evidence that the abuse took place in Switzerland.
Martin Steiger from the Digital Society Switzerland, a full-time lawyer, explains: "Criminal content, even in the form described, is a classic task for state criminal prosecution. Usually on the basis of a criminal complaint from a victim or if there is evidence of an offender in Switzerland."
One hurdle is that the issue also takes place beyond national borders and therefore requires international cooperation. "The corresponding hurdles for legal action of all kinds can lead to de facto lawless areas."
The perpetrators feel safe, as shown by the research of journalists from ARD and CNN who infiltrated the chat forums. The reporters from the American broadcaster even tracked down a suspected perpetrator in Poland. If they can do that, you would think that law enforcement would be able to do the same.
Is it all just tactics?
The inquiries made to Swiss police forces show why perpetrators continue to feel untouchable. If investigators were to make it clear that they are technically capable of tracking down rapists who share their crimes online, they could take away their sense of security.
But perhaps the cybercrime specialists simply don't want to show their cards and have already picked up the digital trail of sex offenders.
The Zurich cantonal police conclude their response to the fight against rape videos shared online with the note: "As usual, we are not commenting on police investigations and procedures for tactical reasons."
