Several people are charged with rapes against particularly vulnerable people

The five defendants, two women and three men, have been in custody since last spring. Another woman is being charged with some of the crimes.

The defendants are residents of Karlstad, Eskilstuna, Örebro and Örnsköldsvik.

The crimes were committed primarily via the internet, with the defendants, as a group, persuading people to perform sexual acts on themselves in various ways. The acts were not intended to satisfy the defendants' sexual urges, according to the investigation.

Prosecutor Lena Bohlin describes the crimes as serious and systematic with degrading elements.

"The plaintiffs have found themselves in a particularly vulnerable situation, partly due to their intellectual disabilities," she says in a press release.