Operation Spade

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The operation Spade ( Engl. "Operation spade") is an international police operation in matters of child pornography . The operation started in October 2010 in Toronto, Canada, after 3 years an interim report was presented to the public. According to the Canadian police, 341 people had been arrested and 386 children had been “rescued” as potential victims by November 2013. German children were also among the victims. In North America , the investigations were completed in autumn 2013, in other countries they are still ongoing. The investigations spanned 50 countries.

detection

The Canadian police first found out about Azov Films, a mail order company operated by Canadian Brian Way, in 2005 . This sold coming-of-age and “ naturist ” films on the Internet , in which mostly naked underage boys could be seen. Most of the footage was shot in Eastern Europe , mostly on order from Way. Because the material offered was not classified as illegal, the police refrained from prosecution. Back in 2004, David Eisenlohr, a Californian provider of “European naturist videos ”, filed a lawsuit against Way with the United States Patent and Trademark Office for offering pirated copies of his videos online. In 2007, he wrote to Canada's Attorney General to complain about "intellectual property theft" and to see if Canadian laws could stop it. Eisenlohr was acquitted of the allegation of trafficking in child pornography in 2009 in a court case that was triggered by a house search of a customer.

When Azov turned out to be a reseller of films that a German karate teacher arrested in Romania in August 2010 had made since 2007, the investigation against Way resumed in October 2010. The Canadian undercover police officer Paul Krawczyk posed as an interested party, was able to log into an anonymous website and download photos. In May 2011, extensive evidence was seized during a raid on Ways' private and office premises, including 500 films and almost 300,000 photos. This should also include material showing sexual acts with young children. However, it is not known whether this material is directly related to Azov. With the help of the documents seized, the Canadian police and the United States Postal Inspection Service were able to reconstruct the customer data of Azov Films and transmit it to Interpol.

The international investigation that followed not only resulted in arrests for acquiring Azov videos, but also unearthed other crimes. As of November 2013, 341 people had been arrested and 386 children were taken into state care. In the course of Operation Spade it became clear that an above-average number of child pornography customers were based in Berlin and Hesse . At least two accused committed suicide, including the chief of staff of a US senator.

Legal classification and prosecution

Of the approximately 600 films distributed by Azov, the Canadian police classified 160 as child pornography using the Dost test ; However, it is unclear whether these would also be punishable under German law. The Federal Criminal classified in a first evaluation of the material seized and delivered to Germany nothing of them as clearly child pornographic.

The film editor employed by Azov pleaded guilty to the production of child pornography in one case in the summer of 2014; he was only sentenced to two years house arrest due to a suicide risk and civil rights violations during his pre-trial detention.

In February 2015, Brian Way was charged 16 cases with the production, marketing and distribution of child pornography. While pleading innocent in the Azov productions, he pleaded guilty to seven other cases of possession of child pornography. At the trial, the prosecutor argued, among other things, that the 176 Azov films included in the indictment must be child pornography because their maker - Way - is a pedophile . This brought her a reprimand from the presiding judge. In May 2015, Way was found guilty of 15 of the 16 indicted cases, with the sentence set to be determined after a psychiatric examination of the defendant. Around 60 of the 176 accused films are considered to be child pornography A according to Canadian case law , as they contain sexualized poses and close-ups of genitals. In addition, there is no reason for the actors to be naked in the plot of the films.

Investigations in Germany and Edathy affair

The investigators also came across an international customer list, which, according to the Spiegel report, may contain references to the SPD politician Sebastian Edathy . The investigation by the German authorities resulted in a search of his home and office. After it became known that the SPD chairman Sigmar Gabriel had already been informed of the ongoing investigations in October 2013 by the then Federal Minister of the Interior Hans-Peter Friedrich (CSU), the affair turned into a government crisis.

Little attention was paid to the fact that Interpol had transmitted a total of 805 German IP addresses and that Edathy was just the most famous name on the list. Several German public prosecutors started investigations against Azov customers because they saw initial suspicion of criminal activity. In February 2014 the Federal Constitutional Court ruled in favor of an accused's complaint against a house search. The legal acquisition of a DVD with posing representations in 2007 is not sufficient for a house search in which one hopes to find the same DVD with now - after a change in the law in 2008 - criminal content. In June 2014, proceedings in North Rhine-Westphalia were discontinued after the accused pleaded a lack of intent to purchase child pornography and Azov's legality clause .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Canada: Police blow up international child porn ring. Spiegel Online, November 14, 2013, accessed February 14, 2014 .
  2. ↑ https://www.heise.de/tp/news/Gerettete-Kinder-oder-was-man-darunter-verhaben-2049024.html
  3. ↑ a b c Tu Tanh Ha: 348 people arrested in child-porn case connected to Canadian firm. The Globe and Mail, November 16, 2013, accessed February 14, 2014 .
  4. ^ Philipp Alvares de Souza Soares; Florian Gathmann: Child pornography allegations: The mysterious case of Sebastian Edathy. What is it about the suspicion? Long-time member of the Bundestag Sebastian Edathy is believed to have owned child pornography - but the SPD politician vehemently denies this. There are still many unanswered questions. Spiegel Online, accessed February 14, 2014 .
  5. ↑ www.azovfilms.com - Similar Sites and Reviews. In: Xmarks.com. Archived from the original on February 24, 2014 ; accessed on February 17, 2014 (self-description by Azovfilms).
  6. ^ Robert Cribb: Child porn bust: How one man seduced an entire village. Toronto Star, November 16, 2013, accessed February 17, 2014 .
  7. ↑ Steve Mertl: Jailed Canadian alleged to be at center of international child-porn crackdown. November 14, 2013, accessed February 15, 2014 .
  8. ↑ Ursula Knapp: The number of unreported cases beyond Edathy , Frankfurter Rundschau , August 21, 2014
  9. ↑ a b Robert Cribb: Canada's biggest child porn case ends with conviction on 15 charges. In: thestar.com. May 12, 2015, accessed August 21, 2015 .
  10. ↑ United States of America vs. Josh Ensley - Criminal Complaint. (No longer available online.) October 25, 2012, p. 4 , formerly in the original ; accessed on February 15, 2014 .  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.11alive.com  
  11. ↑ Jörg Fröhlich, Head of the Hanover Public Prosecutor at the press conference on February 14, 2014 , PHOENIX on site - video on YouTube.
  12. ↑ Sam Pazzano: Aurora man spared prison on child porn editing rap: Risk he would commit suicide, judge says. November 6, 2014, accessed August 21, 2015 .
  13. ↑ Christie Blatchford: Alleged child porn king admits he had illegal images but denies they were for sale. February 23, 2015, accessed August 21, 2015 .
  14. ^ Films of naked boys weren't sexual: Lawyer
  15. ^ Judge orders psychiatric assessment for man convicted in child porn case. May 28, 2015. Retrieved August 21, 2015 .
  16. ↑ Canadian authorities gave evidence of Edathy on spiegel.de
  17. ↑ ps / mfi / flf: Public prosecutor confirms search: Edathy reports from abroad: child pornography accusation "is untrue". In: Focus Online . February 11, 2014, accessed October 14, 2018 .
  18. ↑ Ursula Knapp: Child Pornography: There was no “Lex Edathy”. In: fr-online.de. June 22, 2014, accessed July 3, 2014 .
  19. ↑ BVerfG, 2 BvR 200/14 of February 5, 2014, paragraph no. (1 - 11)
  20. ↑ Dieter Gieseking: Canadian Operation Spade / BKA Operation Selm: North Rhine-Westphalian Public Prosecutor's Office closes investigations against AZOV customers (case 15) for child porn. In: K13 Online. Dieter Gieseking, June 28, 2014, accessed on July 3, 2014 .
A.The term youth pornography does not exist in Canadian law, which is why both child and youth pornography media are totaled here.