On January 29, 2024, the Hajdúböszörmény District Court held a preparatory session in the case of the defendant who stored thousands of child pornography images on his mobile phone.
The accused waived his right to trial at the preparatory session and made a confession, which the judge accepted.
The district court found the man guilty of the crime of child pornography committed by handing over a pornographic recording depicting a person under the age of 12 and the crime of child pornography committed by holding a pornographic recording containing the torture or use of violence of a person under the age of 12. Therefore, he sentenced him to 2 years in prison as a cumulative punishment, the execution of which was suspended for a 5-year probationary period, defined as the legal maximum. The court also fined the 54-year-old man HUF 720,000.
According to the verdict, in the criminal proceedings initiated based on a report from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, the police found the accused, who sent two pictures to his acquaintance via an Internet messaging application on February 23, 2022, which depicted a person between the ages of fourteen and eighteen, with an openness that seriously violates sexuality, purposefully aimed at arousing sexual desire. The defendant’s friend did not ask for these photos and verbally informed the friend that he was not interested in such a thing, that he should not send these photos, as they could cause trouble.
There were 2,315 child pornography recordings on his mobile phone.
On October 5, 2022, the Anti-Cybercrime Department of the National Investigation Bureau of the Emergency Police conducted a search at the accused’s place of residence in Hajdúböszörmény, during which the investigators seized the accused’s mobile phone, which contained 2,315 individual child pornography recordings.
Out of the thousands of recordings, 13 include torture or the use of violence against persons under the age of 12, 936 recordings of persons under the age of 12, 4 recordings involving torture or the use of violence of persons over the age of 12 but under the age of 18, 792 recordings persons who have reached the age of twelfth but not yet fourteen, while 570 recordings depict persons who have reached the age of fourteen but not yet eighteen. In all cases, the images showed sexuality with grossly obscene openness, purposefully aimed at arousing sexual desire.
During the oral justification of the verdict, the court evaluated as a mitigating circumstance the fact that the defendant had no criminal record, confessed and showed remorseful behavior, and no aggravating circumstance was discovered.
The verdict did not become legally binding immediately, the prosecutor reserved three working days to think about the declaration of legal remedy, while the defendant and his defense attorney took note of the decision.
(Debrecen Court)
Picture: illustration.
