According to a motion by the lawyers of two suspected Elysium staff members, evidence gathered from electronic devices should be suppressed due to a so-called “fault warrant.” The judge denied their claim and allowed the use of the evidence in court.

In the Staufen abuse case that caught the public’s attention after the takedown of the darkweb chatroom Tabooless Chat and the darkweb child abuse forum Elysium, the court ruled that the Youth Welfare Office shared some of the blame due to a systematic failure to prevent the offender from living with his victim.

During the first few days of the hearing at the Limburg District Court, the four men accused of running or moderating the Elysium darknet forum claimed they had no interest in children and that they participated out of technical interest. Some of the defendants made claims that sounded outlandish to both the public and the prosecution.

While investigating darkweb crime in 2017, investigators with the German Federal Criminal Police Office discovered a darknet child abuse forum called “Elysium.” Georg Ungefuk, the Attorney General in Frankfurt, led an investigation into the forum that eventually shuttered it and brought its owners into custody.

More than a year after the takedown of the darknet forum “Elysium,” the Attorney General in Frankfurt spoke to the public about the upcoming trial for the site’s alleged administrator and three co-conspirators.

The Public Prosecutor’s office in Frankfurt has charged four men for running the now-defunct darknet child abuse forum “Elysium.” All four have been charged for administration, development, and moderation of the forum. That have also been charged for distributing child abuse material. And one has been charged for physically abusing two children while holding an administrative position on the forum.