Influencers avoid jail over death of man 'tortured and humiliated' on livestream

Influencers avoid jail over death of man 'tortured and humiliated' on livestream Raphael Graven, 46, also known as Jean Pormanove, was found unconscious by fellow streamers in France after having been live online for more than 298 hours Two influencers have been convicted after "torturing and humiliating" a French streamer who died while livestreaming an extreme challenge. A broadcast by Raphael Graven, 46, also known as Jean Pormanove, was interrupted soon after his co-streamers found him unconscious and lying on a bed in August last year in a village near Nice. His livestream on the Kick platform had been been running for more than 298 hours. And now Safine Hamadi and Owen Cenazandotti have been convicted of aggravated violence following his death after an investigation found he was regularly subjected to humiliation and abuse in his content. A Nice court has handed down suspended prison sentences to the pair, who claimed that the abuse took place with the consent of Graven. Pormanove had more than 500,000 social media followers. Several internet users noticed a sudden end to the livestream on Kick. He reportedly endured “10 days and nights of torture” which included sleep deprivation, extreme physical violence and the “ingestion of toxic products”. Pormanove caused controversy for his live antics, with fellow content creators Naruto and Safine in particular. He was seen in clips having food pushed into his mouth while he was restrained, being tackled in a room that appeared to be a basement and having objects thrown at him. Hamadi, who expressed remorse during the trial, was given an 18-month suspended prison sentence while Cenazandotti was handed down a two-year prison sentence which was also suspended. Hamadi and Cenazandotti have also been ordered to pay fines of €5,000 (£4283) and €15,000 (£12,848) respectively. While they have been banned from posting online for six months. Neither man was charged with the manslaughter of Graven, after the prosecution said probable causes of death appeared to be related to his poor health and fragile heart. And the pair were also acquitted of abusing Graven's psychological frailty, with the influencer previously telling police that he had consented to the extreme challenges. Damien Martinelli, the prosecutor in Nice, said the autopsy showed the death was not caused by a trauma and “not related” to the intervention of any third party. It was claimed by French investigative website Mediapart that co-streamers were mistreating Pormanove in live broadcasts, sometimes encouraged by payments from viewers, to generate more subscriptions and money. The criminal investigation was looking into “deliberate violence against vulnerable persons” and “spreading recordings of images related to offenses involving deliberate violations of physical integrity,” Martinelli’s statement said. The Nice prosecutor also told last August how investigators had previously interviewed Pormanove and one of his co-streamers who both appeared to be victims of violence and humiliation. But they “strongly denied being victims of violence, stating that the events were staged in order to ‘generate a buzz’ and make money,” he added. Kick, the streaming platform, remains part of an investigation by French authorities, and it told the New York Times it was not involved in the proceedings against Hamadi and Cenazandotti. It added: "The ruling relates solely to two individual content creators." The Mirror has contacted Kick for comment.