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Russia Vows Severe Response After Top General Killed; Mass Graves Being Found After Assad Regime's Fall; Hamas Expresses Optimism for Gaza Deal amid Obstacles; At Least 14 Dead, Hundreds Injured in 7.3 Magnitude Quake in Vanuatu; Luigi Mangione Indicted for Murder as Act of Terrorism; Police Looking into Madison School Shooting Suspect's Motive. Horrifying Police Reports Shed Light on Pelicot Case. Aired 12-12:45a ET
Aired December 18, 2024 - 00:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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RAFAEL ROMO, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Hello. I'm Rafael Romo live in Atlanta. Ahead on CNN NEWSROOM.
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Russian officials vowing revenge after a top general was killed in Moscow by a bomb hidden in an electric scooter. Plus, uncovering the brutality of the Assad regime. An advocacy group warns hundreds of thousands of bodies could be buried in Syria's mass graves. And CNN gets exclusive access to French police reports detailing how the men accused of organizing the shocking mass rape of his wife carried out his alleged crimes.
Russian officials are vowing a severe response to the assassination of one of its top generals. Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov and an aide were killed in Moscow on Tuesday.
A warning the video you're about to see is graphic. Russia's investigative committee says Kirillov and his aide were killed by a remotely detonated bomb in a, quote, "terrorist attack."
This footage shows two bodies lying on the ground at the blast site outside an apartment building some seven kilometers from the Kremlin. Russian President Vladimir Putin has not yet commented on Kirillov's death, but Dmitri Medvedev of Russia Security Council is accusing Kyiv of the killing.
CNN's Fred Pleitgen has the details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): One of Russia's top generals and an aide just seconds before the fatal blast. We're not showing the moment of the explosion in this video obtained by CNN.
Russian investigators say the bomb with about 300 grams of TNT was hidden in an electric scooter parked just outside the entrance of that building. As the general and an aide walked out, it blew up, killing them both.
(Voice-over): Russian investigators say the device was detonated remotely. The blast so powerful it shattered windows several floors up in buildings across the street.
At first, we thought that cement might have been unloaded or something similar, this resident says, but the blast was so loud it did not seem like construction work. It was very scary.
Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov was the head of Russia's nuclear, chemical and biological defense forces, often accusing Kyiv of planning to use chemicals on the battlefield. The Ukrainians, for their part, accused Kirillov of overseeing the use of chemical substances against their forces and have claimed responsibility for assassinating him, calling the general, quote, "an absolutely legitimate target," and saying, "Such an inglorious end awaits all those who kill Ukrainians."
The general is not the first, but the highest ranking Russian military official the Ukrainians claimed to have assassinated. Moscow furious, launching both a terrorism and a criminal investigation.
Investigative actions and operational search activities are being carried out aimed at establishing all the circumstances of the crime committed, the spokesperson said.
Asymmetric warfare like this brazen drone attack inside Russia two days ago is how the Ukrainian forces are trying to level the battlefield, as Vladimir Putin's army has been making significant gains on nearly all frontlines.
The lieutenant general's assassination comes just hours after Putin met with his top military brass ripping into the Biden administration for its support of Ukraine.
In an effort to weaken our country and impose a strategic defeat on us, the United States continues to pump the virtually illegitimate ruling regime in Kyiv, full of weapons and money, sends mercenaries and military advisers and thereby encourages further escalation of the conflict, Putin said.
And Russian politicians have vowed revenge for the general's killing while acknowledging his death is a major loss.
Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Moscow.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROMO: William Taylor is a former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine and vice president for Russia and Europe at the United States Institute for Peace. He joins me now from Washington.
Thank you for joining us, Mr. Ambassador. Kyiv was swift to claim the attack. A source with knowledge of the operation later told CNN that Ukraine's security service, the SBU, was behind the attack. Mr. Ambassador, is there any reason at this point to doubt that that
was the case, that some other actor or the Russian government itself could have been behind Kirillov's death?
WILLIAM TAYLOR, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO UKRAINE: I don't think so, Rafael. I think it's very clear that the Ukrainian SBU, the security service, was responsible for this attack on a military target in Moscow. I think it was -- it's almost no doubt that it was the Ukrainians.
ROMO: Mr. Ambassador, in this type of situation, it is always crucial to ask a couple of questions. Why now and how? Having served as U.S. ambassador to Ukraine and knowing the conflict deeply, do you know why Ukraine would do something like this right now with a remotely detonated bomb?
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TAYLOR: So they've been doing this for some time, Rafael. This is not a sudden occurrence. The SBU, the security service, as well as the military intelligence, service corps, have both undertaken these operations to attack, as I say, military targets deep into Russia, using people that they've got planted there. I mean, this is an indication that both of these services have agents. And that's got to make the Russians nervous.
But the answer to your question is, why now? It's been going on for months. And the answer is to try to show the Russians, demonstrate to the Russians, they're not going to win this war.
ROMO: As you very well know, this is the most senior military official known to be killed since Russia launched this full scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. What's the impact, Mr. Ambassador, of this targeted assassination?
TAYLOR: Impact is to -- is on the Russian military. The Russian military now understands, they've understood before but this, as you say, attack on a very senior Russian military, who's responsible, let's be clear for war crimes. He's responsible for using prohibited chemical weapons against Ukrainian soldiers, some 4800 times, Rafael, that -- and 2,000 of these soldiers have been hospitalized. Three have died. So this is a senior military who now has paid the price for that kind of action against Ukrainian soldiers.
ROMO: So help us put it in perspective here. What does the attack tell us about Ukraine's capabilities to strike the Kremlin deep into Russia? We have heard with our correspondent on the ground, Fred Pleitgen, that it is only a few miles away from the Kremlin.
TAYLOR: It's very close to downtown. It's a residential part of Moscow. And it demonstrates that the Ukrainians have reached -- the Ukrainians have the capability to go after military targets wherever they want. This is a demonstration of their capabilities. It's a demonstration of their competence in this kind of an action against military targets deep into Russia.
ROMO: And finally, Mr. Ambassador, what kind of response would you expect from the Kremlin, from Vladimir Putin?
TAYLOR: More of the same. More of the same, Rafael. I am sure that the Russians will send more drones, more missiles against civilian targets. The Russians go after civilian targets, energy and apartment buildings, and schools and hospitals. So the Russians do this regularly. So I would expect more of the same of that kind of attack.
ROMO: Ambassador William Taylor, thank you very much for the opportunity.
TAYLOR: Rafael, thank you very much for having me.
ROMO: The U.S. believes several hundred North Korean troops have been killed or wounded while fighting Ukrainian forces. The U.S. and Ukraine estimate that some 12,000 North Koreans have been sent to Russia to fight alongside Russian troops. A Pentagon spokesperson says that some entered combat a little more than a week ago, and they're already suffering casualties. A senior U.S. official says North Korean troops of all ranks have been killed in action or have been wounded on the battlefield.
Syrians are beginning to uncover the extent of the Assad regime's brutality, as mass graves are being discovered across the country. One advocacy group believes hundreds of thousands of bodies, quote, "tortured to death" by the Assad regime could be buried in those graves.
Our Melissa Bell reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MELISSA BELL, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: More than two weeks after the fall of Bashar al-Assad, the tragic next step in the search of many Syrians for their loved ones, some of the first images emerging of what are believed to be mass graves that may have been used by the regime to bury some of those who were first taken to the detention centers and then tortured to death.
One at Qutayfah, which is on the outskirts of Damascus, not very far from the Syrian capital, where one advocacy group has been speaking of the truckloads of bodies that were brought each week. What we understand is that four tractor trailers carrying 150 bodies each were brought twice a week between 2012 and 2018 to this particular site.
Now the subject or the search for some of those bodies in the hope that some may be identified. Another site in the southern province of Daraa also now believed to be another of those mass burial sites as Syrians try and establish the identities of some of the 150,000 people who've disappeared, to try and figure out if any of them may lie in these sites.
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That's according to the International Commission on Missing Persons. Still, many relatives frantically searching for their loved ones in the hopes that they might be alive. But these are the clearest indication yet, the first tangible proof of what we've long heard about from outside of Syria during the Assad regime of the brutality of its secret services, the brutality of its detention centers, with many of those bodies now no doubt beyond recognition. It's unclear also for the time being how many people may have been buried there.
Melissa Bell, CNN, Paris.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROMO: The United Nations Refugee Agency says one million Syrians are expected to return home in the first half of 2025, and that's not including the many refugees who have already spontaneously returned to Syria from Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan. The UNHCR has released a plan seeking $310 million to address the critical needs of the refugees going back to Syria, but expressed skepticism that the regime change signals an end to the country's humanitarian crisis.
The CIA director is expected to travel to Doha as early as Wednesday to continue talks for a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal. Top officials from the U.S., Israel, Qatar and Egypt are all touting progress in the negotiations. Now Hamas is also voicing cautious optimism for a deal.
CNN's Jeremy Diamond has the latest from Jerusalem.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Well, Hamas now becomes the latest party to these negotiations to express some optimism about the prospects of reaching a ceasefire and hostage release deal. We have heard optimistic comments over the course of the last week from U.S., Israeli, Qatari and Egyptian officials, and now Hamas is joining the fray. But as with the others who are expressing optimism, Hamas is also adding a note of caution to their comments.
In their statement, they are making clear that, quote, "Hamas affirms that in light of the serious and positive discussions taking place in Doha today under the auspices of our Qatari and Egyptian brothers, reaching an agreement for a ceasefire and prisoner exchange is possible if the occupation stops imposing new conditions."
And that if is indeed that note of caution that they are raising, suggesting that Israeli negotiators are making additional demands as this negotiating process moves forward. A second Hamas source said that they view the current state of negotiations as quote, "positive and optimistic." And it is important to note that amid this optimism, we are also seeing a flurry of diplomatic activity in the region.
The U.S. National Security adviser, Jake Sullivan, just last week traveled to Israel, Egypt and Qatar to try and advance a deal. He said he hopes that he can put the conditions in place to reach a deal within the next month. And that is indeed the target here, appears to be, to try and reach a deal before President Biden leaves office on January 20th, and President-elect Trump will then be inaugurated.
And we know, of course, that the Biden administration has also been closely coordinating with the Trump administration over this deal as incoming Trump advisers have also been traveling to the region and coordinating closely with the officials who they will soon be replacing. It is important to caution, though, that as we are seeing this momentum, as we are seeing this optimistic language, the reason why we are also hearing notes of caution from all of the parties involved is because we have been this close in the past.
We have been very close to a deal and ultimately talks have collapsed, and that possibility still very much looms. But Israeli and American officials who I've spoken to have pointed to a new set of conditions in the region in terms of Hamas being increasingly isolated, Israel having accomplished a slew of military achievements in Gaza, including the killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, that might make them more willing to reach a deal now.
All of this pointing us in the direction of a potential ceasefire and hostage deal. But again, the deal isn't reached until it's done.
Jeremy Diamond, CNN, Jerusalem.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROMO: Authorities and aid workers in the French territory of Mayotte are working around the clock to keep the peace and prevent the spread of disease after the worst cyclone to hit the region in at least 90 years. At least 22 people are dead and more than 1400 injured, according to a local mayor. But those numbers could rise significantly as crews move further into areas blocked by debris. For now, some residents are forced to wait for help.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): But the hardest part is that since Saturday morning, when the cyclone passed, nothing has really happened apart from us, the people, trying to clean up.
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I haven't seen any municipal technical services.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): It's the same for everyone. What's alarming is that we are all cut off from the world. No electricity, there's no connection. There hasn't been any water since Saturday, so it's unlivable.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMO: Those much needed supplies began arriving Tuesday. The French government expects half of the island's water supplies will be restored soon, and nearly all of it by early next week.
Meantime, in the South Pacific, at least 14 people are reported dead in Vanuatu after a 7.3 magnitude earthquake hit the islands on Tuesday. Officials say at least 200 people have been treated for injuries. The quake caused buildings to collapse, smashing cars and potentially trapping victims beneath the rubble. The U.S. embassy in Vanuatu, which shares a building with other Western embassies, was badly damaged and is now closed.
Here's how one journalist described the quake.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAN MCGARRY, JOURNALIST: It was the most violent earthquake I've experienced in my 21 years living in Vanuatu and in the Pacific Islands. I've seen a lot of large earthquakes. Never one like this.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMO: Katie Greenwood is the head of delegation for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies in the Asia Pacific region. She joins me from Fiji.
Thank you very much for joining us. First of all, let me ask you, it is well past four in the afternoon on Wednesday in Vanuatu. What are authorities there saying about helping those affected and assessing the damage?
KATIE GREENWOOD, HEAD OF DELEGATION, IFRC PACIFIC: Yes, thanks, Rafael. So the current situation on the ground in Vanuatu, it's very somber. It's very sad. There's a lot of grief and shock going on. The commentary that you just heard about the largest earthquake and the most shocking results of an earthquake in the Pacific is very true. The population is very shocked and saddened by what has happened.
The main focus of efforts at the moment is on that search and rescue in the downtown area of the capital of Vanuatu, Port Vila, a number of buildings collapsed and people have been trapped in those buildings with the search and rescue efforts being absolutely phenomenal and a lot of effort is going into that. But there's also been major infrastructure damage to the wharf from a landslide to the main hospital that has no active operating theater at the moment.
So there's an outdoor triage area that has been set up to assist people. There's still quite a bit of confusion, but certainly the efforts for search and rescue are the primary focus of what's going on at the moment, as well as assessing damage outside of the capital, in community areas to understand what the situation is there.
ROMO: Yes, and Katie, having covered the earthquakes before, I know that one problem is what you were mentioning just a moment ago, infrastructure. What can you tell us about the condition of roads and bridges? Are the Red Cross and the government going to be able to transport food, water and other necessities to those in need?
GREENWOOD: Well, that's exactly right. There is that infrastructure damage in terms of relief items coming in. We have had some humanitarian flights able to land in the country today, although the airstrip did suffer some damage and there are no commercial flights going in and out of the country.
Those humanitarian goods are getting in, but getting them around is a little bit tricky and difficult. There is some damage to roads and certainly the road between the wharf and the main center of town is badly damaged from landslides. We do still have power outage there. Communications have been restored, which is great step by step. We're seeing improvements there hour by hour, but getting those goods out is tricky.
Certainly the Red Cross warehouse suffered some damage. The door is having to be taken off that big warehouse, which has involved machinery, getting involved to cut the way out to get those humanitarian relief supplies out. But the government is doing an incredible job of coordinating with key humanitarian partners to get that relief there and through to people.
ROMO: I was reading some of your posts on X, and you reported earlier that you had initial contact with your team on the ground before communications went down, and they were reporting widespread damage. What is the status of communications right now?
GREENWOOD: We have fortunately been able to restore that communication, and it was great to finally speak to the secretary- general of Vanuatu Red Cross this morning. I had a 20-minute conversation with him, which was relatively uninterrupted.
[00:20:03]
The communication has definitely been patchy. The Vanuatu Red Cross this afternoon restored internet connections. So they are now running one of the programs called Restoring Family Links, that is able to link up people who have had that separation of communication from their loved ones, so that people can understand what their condition is. But yes, absolutely, there is a very tricky situation.
Still, the power is out. But that communication is absolutely essential for good coordination and for getting the messages out about what people should be doing, how people should be cautiously returning to their homes, and looking at that damage, what to do in case of the aftershocks that are happening at the moment. So the communication restoration has been an absolutely critical part of good communication with the affected community.
ROMO: Yes. We wanted to have you on our program because you know the region well. And I wanted to ask you, what can you tell us about Vanuatu's capability to respond to something like this? Will they need aid and support from other countries in the region?
GREENWOOD: Vanuatu is a very disaster prone country and a very resilient population. They have every known geohazard and natural disaster phenomenon that you can imagine. They have suffered from volcanic eruptions, earthquakes in the past, tsunamis and cyclones are a regular feature. They had three in quick succession last year. So this is a population and a humanitarian response atmosphere where people are very skilled and very experienced.
However, even when I was speaking with my Red Cross colleagues today on the ground, they said that this is a shocking experience for everybody, that even though they have experienced these kinds of earthquakes before, they are not used to the scale of this. And certainly no one expected the kind of infrastructure damage and the collapse of buildings downtown that has trapped people.
So there is still a feeling of shock and almost an immobilization for a short period of time, while people come to grips with what has happened and are taking their toll on the broader community. In terms of international response, we have had assistance from outside today.
ROMO: Yes.
GREENWOOD: There is, you know, government response from partner governments in the region, from New Zealand, from Australia, from the French governments, but that assistance is mostly focused on the search and rescue efforts and bringing in specialist skill sets and equipment needed for that, but is also will be around medical assistance and those sorts of things. So it is an international community. There's no one of us can do this without the other. And so we're all banding together to do that work.
ROMO: That's great to hear and especially good news for those affected by the earthquake.
Katie Greenwood, thank you very much for the opportunity.
GREENWOOD: Thanks for having me.
ROMO: And coming up, a grand jury indicts the suspect in the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO on a New York street. Why the killing is being called an act of terrorism. Plus, searching for a motive for the deadly school shooting in Madison, Wisconsin. What documents and information investigators are looking for now.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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ROMO: The suspect in the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO in a New York street is set to appear in a Pennsylvania court Thursday. Luigi Mangione's lawyer says he will not fight extradition to New York, where he's facing an 11-count indictment. The charges include first and second-degree murder as an act of terrorism in the death of Brian Thompson, meaning the murder was meant to scare and intimidate the public.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ALVIN BRAGG JUNIOR, MANHATTAN DISTRICT ATTORNEY: This was a frightening, well-planned, targeted murder that was intended to cause shock and attention and intimidation.
JESSICA TISCH, NEW YORK CITY POLICE COMMISSIONER: There is no heroism in what Mangione did. This was a senseless act of violence. It was a cold and calculated crime that stole a life and put New Yorkers at risk.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMO: CNN's Shimon Prokupecz has more details on the charges Mangione faces.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Luigi Mangione was indicted by a Manhattan grand jury on murder in the first degree and murder in the second degree. Rare charges also included in this indictment, terrorism charges. The Manhattan DA's office believing that the murder, based on the writings that they have obtained of Luigi Mangione, that this was a politically motivated murder, and so based on all that and all the information that they have gathered, they have decided to charge him with murder in the first degree, with an enhancement of terrorism.
Now, as for Mangione, he is expected to be in a Pennsylvania court on Thursday. And then at that point, we expect that he's not going to fight extradition and that he will at some point be brought back here to Manhattan.
Shimon Prokupecz, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROMO: Authorities say determining the motive for the deadly school shooting in Madison, Wisconsin, is top priority as of now. They say it appears to be a combination of factors. A candlelight vigil was held to remember the teacher and student killed and the six others wounded at Abundant Life Christian School on Monday.
Investigators want to know why the 15-year-old female student opened fire and how she got the gun used in the attack. "The Washington Post" reports that the shooter had a turbulent home life, according to court records. They show her parents divorced and remarried multiple times, and that she said that she had been enrolled in therapy.
CNN's Natasha Chen has details on the investigation.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NATASHA CHEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Police in Madison, Wisconsin, are urgently searching for what led a 15-year-old girl to bring a nine-millimeter handgun to school and opened fire. Investigators say Natalie Rupnow, who went by Samantha, arrived at the Abundant Life Christian School Monday morning, killed a teacher and fellow student and wounded six others before taking her own life.
CHIEF SHON BARNES, MADISON POLICE DEPARTMENT: The past 24 hours have been a flurry of emotion, sadness, anger, disappointment, grief.
CHEN: Grief as they try to understand why a festive day with students dressed in their holiday pajamas ended with them evacuating a shooting scene. Police Chief Shon Barnes says the motive was a combination of factors, and they are looking into everything from possible bullying to her online activity, adding everyone at the school was targeted equally in the shooting. As for writings related to the shooting that have been circulating online --
BARNES: At this time, we cannot verify the document. We ask that you not share the document or spread any information that may be false.
CHEN: But police are looking for original documents that may have been taken from the shooter's home and speaking to her parents, who they say are cooperative to determine whether they owned or possessed the gun their daughter allegedly used.
MAYOR SATYA RHODES-CONWAY, MADISON, WISCONSIN: I think law enforcement will take the steps necessary, but we don't know nearly enough yet.
CHEN: Not enough to know whether the parents will face criminal charges. While the police chief says they will look into whether the parents were negligent, he says that does not appear to be the case right now.
Two of the shooting victims remain in critical condition, with life threatening injuries, and police are asking members of the community to respect the privacy of the student and teacher who were killed.
REBEKAH SMITH, CHILDREN ATTEND ABUNDANT LIFE CHRISTIAN SCHOOL: That particular teacher, she would have done anything for those kids. She would have been right there. Loved the school. Loved her kids. Loved teaching.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Beautiful lights.
SMITH: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That they were beautiful souls.
NATASHA CHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It was at least the 83rd school shooting in the U.S. this year, more than any other year since CNN started tracking school shootings in 2008.
MELISSA AGARD, DANE COUNTY EXECUTIVE: There's going to be public debate about the motives and other aspects of this mass shooting. But let us remember this fact. Gun violence is the No. 1 killer of children in this country. That's a legacy we cannot accept.
CHEN: Natasha Chen, CNN, Los Angeles.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
RAFAEL ROMO, CNN ANCHOR/CORRESPONDENT: We have exclusive new reporting on France's mass rape trial. Details on how Gisele Pelicot's husband was able to orchestrate the abuse. That report, after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMO: You're watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Rafael Romo.
A verdict is expected Thursday in the Pelicot rape trial that has shocked France and much of the world. Dominique Pelicot is accused of organizing the abuse of his own wife, Gisele. She decided to waive her right to anonymity and has spoken openly in
court, saying it is time to look at this macho, patriarchal society and change the way it looks at rape.
Fifteen men, including Pelicot, have pleaded guilty to rape. Others said they thought that a husband's consent was enough.
Now, exclusive access to French police reports reveals exactly how her husband found men to rape his wife. We must warn viewers: the content is graphic and disturbing.
Saskya Vandoorne reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GRAPHIC: I am about to dose her. We have to wait at least one hour to abuse her.
SASKYA VANDOORNE, CNN SENIOR PRODUCER: I've come here to retrace the steps of all those men who visited Dominique Pelicot's house in the middle of the night.
GRAPHIC: It won't be long until she goes to bed. Our friends are leaving soon. I will tell you in 30 minutes.
VANDOORNE: This case really has captured the world's attention, with so many people asking why. We're going to focus instead on how Pelicot led the men right here.
GRAPHIC: Dominique: I will text you in 30 minutes.
NINOU: I am already at the sports pitch in Mazan.
VANDOORNE (voice-over): The way he communicated, the tactics he used, how he came to be on trial for mass rape and drugging his wife. What was his playbook?
MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Fifty men accused in the mass rape of Gisele Pelicot.
She was drugged.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Drugged unconscious by her husband.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Dominique Pelicot --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Dominique Pelicot admits to recruiting dozens --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Enlisting other men to join him.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: To rape his wife. Sparked outrage across France.
JOHN VAUSE, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Global concern about violence against women.
[00:35:04] VANDOORNE (voice-over): CNN has gained exclusive access to police reports with thousands of messages that Dominique exchanged with the 50 men on trial alongside him.
He didn't have to search far for his alleged accomplices. They all live within a 30-mile radius of his house in Mazan.
The horror is still felt here by local women.
NEDELJKA MACAN, MAZAN RESIDENT: This area was so quiet and nice area, and now we don't know if somebody who is a -- the next stop is one of these men. It changed everything.
VANDOORNE (voice-over): From a firefighter, to a journalist, to a nurse. From 27 years old to 74 years old.
All the men were connected by one website, Coco. Shut down this summer, Coco's chat rooms were easy to access.
VANDOORNE: It was not buried in the dark web. As one man accused of raping Gisele Pelicot said.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
GRAPHIC: I got in touch through Coco in the evening when I was by myself. My wife had gone to bed, and I was a little bored.
VANDOORNE: But because the so-called dating site was entirely unmoderated and anonymous, it boasted chat rooms selling date rape drugs and spaces to glorify sexual violence.
VANDOORNE (voice-over): Under the pseudonym "Available All Night," Pelicot posted in a chat room called "Without Her Knowledge."
It was there that misogyny and sexual abuse were completely normalized.
While Pelicot has pleaded guilty to rape, most of his co-defendants say that they believe Dominique Pelicot's consent was enough.
VANDOORNE: Coco was the door. Pelicot would then move the discussion to Skype. He traded videos of his wife being raped for intimate images of the men's own partners, according to the police report.
MATHIAS DARMON, LAWYER, INNOCENCE EN DANGER: We saw Coco was a very dangerous website.
VANDOORNE: Innocence in Danger has been campaigning against the site for years.
DARMON: They went to this website to realize their worst -- their worst fantasies, so it became reality, thanks to Dominique Pelicot.
VANDOORNE (voice-over): He told police that over time, he built a network of men.
GRAPHIC: Dominique: She's offered night of August 21 to 22. Do you want to come?
Karim: Yes, with pleasure.
DARMON: The place where they could meet. What time? What they could wear, they couldn't wear.
GRAPHIC: Dominique: You have to be clean without aftershave, no long dirty nails.
VANDOORNE: He allegedly told the men what drugs to buy and how to use them.
GRAPHIC: Dominique: Better not leave any trace at the pharmacy because they are recording you.
VANDOORNE: This all went undetected for ten years.
Dominique Pelicot never thought his text messages or his alleged crimes would see the light of day, and they probably wouldn't have, if it weren't for the events that took place right here on September 12th, when a security guard caught him red-handed, filming up the skirts of several women.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Police. Police.
DARMON: This kind of website, as long as there is demand, then there will be supply.
VANDOORNE: In the wake of Coco's shutdown, more websites have gained in popularity in France.
CNN extracted data from just one of those websites.
VANDOORNE (voice-over): After going through almost 6,000 messages from a 24-hour period, we found a strikingly similar pattern of men sharing explicit photos of their wives and girlfriends. And asking to move the discussions to private messaging platforms.
VANDOORNE: Some men went as far as offering up their wives to other users in a manner like Pelicot, but it's unclear if any of them set up real-life encounters.
There are some websites that could be the new Coco. How does that make you feel?
MACAN: For these website, it's kind of marvelous thing, what happened with Gisele Pelicot. It brings them advertising.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
GRAPHIC: It could very well happen again tomorrow in another place.
MACAN: We expect that some laws will change, but of course I'm not sure that it will be enough. So, I don't feel at ease here in the streets.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROMO: Very disturbing, indeed. That was CNN's Saskya Vandoorne reporting.
Some disturbing new revelations by the head of the Catholic Church. We'll have the latest on the pope's upcoming memoir when we return.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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ROMO: A new milestone in outer space. Two Chinese astronauts have broken the record for the longest spacewalk. According to the China manned space agency, it lasted nine hours on Tuesday.
That beats the previous record of eight hours and 56 minutes, set by a pair of U.S. astronauts in 2001.
China has been increasing its role as a major player in space, with plans to land on the moon by 2030.
A stunning revelation from the head of the Catholic Church. According to Pope Francis, there were two failed attempts on his life during his high-profile visit to Iraq in 2021.
He says one of them involved a young woman who wanted to blow herself up in Mosul. At the time, the trip was considered risky for both security and COVID-19 concerns.
The 88-year-old pontiff is detailing the plots in a new book. The memoir, "Hope," will be released early next year.
Hollywood star Tom Cruise has spent years playing military heroes, but his service is more than just make believe. The U.S. Navy is honoring him with the distinguished public service award.
The force says he significantly boosted its recruitment of pilots through his lead role in the 1986 action film "Top Gun."
Cruise, a licensed pilot, played naval aviator Maverick and reprised his role as a captain in the 2022 sequel. We're going to see him again.
I'm Rafael Romo. I'll be back at the top of the hour with more CNN NEWSROOM, but first, WORLD SPORT starts after the break.
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