A man from London, England, has been sentenced to three years and three months in prison for leading an international network that paid to have baby monkeys tortured and killed to create videos for online distribution, according to Sky News.
Bartosz Poklek administered online groups whose members requested specific acts of torture against monkeys in Indonesia, primarily baby long-tailed macaques.
He also commissioned videos, scripted acts of abuse, and coordinated payments from buyers to those who filmed and tortured the monkeys.
Police seized digital devices containing nearly 3,000 videos of severe physical abuse inflicted on monkeys when they arrested Poklek.
One 39-minute video showed a baby monkey being given alcohol, set alight, and restrained with zip ties, while another ran for nearly half an hour and showed a second baby monkey being mutilated with scissors while still alive.
“If ever there was a case that demonstrates that the statutory maximum for animal cruelty is too low, this is it,” Judge Christopher Grout stated.
The sentence follows an international law enforcement effort targeting individuals and groups involved in arranging the torture of baby monkeys.
Lady Freethinker and Action for Primates first exposed the horrific, underground world of baby monkey torture in 2021 after investigating a private group paying for custom videos online. Evidence from those investigations contributed to the BBC documentary “The Monkey Haters” and has been shared with law enforcement worldwide.
Since that time, numerous individuals involved with these groups have been charged and convicted. Despite this, videos funded by private torture groups continue to appear on mainstream platforms, whose failure to remove this content facilitates the criminal activity.
The harm inflicted on these monkeys cannot be undone, but continued awareness and public action can help bring an end to the cruelty.
Lady Freethinker is grateful to everyone involved in bringing Poklek to justice and remains committed to uncovering this abuse and holding those responsible accountable for the suffering of every animal victim.
