Vice: How a French Doctor Convicted of Raping Dozens of Vietnamese Boys Continues to Evade Justice

April 19, 2023

PARIS—Life as a 14-year-old street child in Vietnam for Long was already bleak.

Long, a pseudonym used for his protection, became an orphan at the age of eight. His father died when he was four, then his mother passed away four years later. He had left his village in the mountains of northern Vietnam to travel to the capital Hanoi where he could escape the wrath of his abusive caretaker aunt. 

Often, his only meal of the day came from discarded fresh coconuts that he would dig from the garbage so he could eat the flesh. At other times, he would lift a few coins from temple donations to buy himself bread, or play video games at an internet cafe—his one and only pleasure.

But after meeting Olivier Larroque in 2013, his life took an even darker turn. Now 24, Long was one of many impoverished, underage Vietnamese street boys whom Larroque lured with the promise of food and money before raping them. 

As a young boy, he was stupefied by the rape.

“I never knew that something like this can happen in the world, where men make love with men, that this even existed,” Long told VICE World News of his thinking at the time.

More at https://www.vice.com/en/article/g5yg8j/french-doctor-raped-dozens-of-boys-vietnam