The Civil Guard of Burgos has arrested, in the framework of Operation Napalm, a 62-year-old man, who lived in the province of Palencia, Spain under the accusations of instigating to prostitution and sexual exploitation, corruption of minors, and possession of pedopornography.
The investigation started in November 2018 when the Commandery of Burgos was informed, as a result of the measures for prevention and risk detection by the Corps personnel, of the possible existence of certain computer files related to the sexual exploitation of children. The Technological Investigation Team of the Judicial Police Organic Unit of Burgos took charge of the investigations, aiming to recover all possible files in immediate circulation, identify its recent owners, arrest the suspects, and organize proof for the criminal case. The PC registry of the suspect verified the existence of images of explicitly pornographic content and “extremely hard” images of young children.
In the house, four storage devices (HDDs) have been confiscated and are being currently under inquiry. Most of the media come from downloads through the deepweb, through “Peer to Peer” programs, or through private forums on the darknet.
“Nothing indicates so far that the victims are within our borders,” the police Command explains.
The Operation has been directed by the Court of Instruction of Carrión de los Condes, Palencia and seeks to root out other implicated members in the file transfers. Spain is both a transit and destination country for children trafficked for sexual purposes and it’s considered the largest host of child pornography in Europe. Since adopting the new European Union laws against child exploitation, the 62-year-old culprit is to be expecting no more than a few years of prison. Unlike other European countries who haven’t adopted the new European Union penal code against pedophiles, Spain has somewhat lowered the de jure punishment for pedopornography crimes. Italy, for example, would theoretically give a much harsher penalty for a similar case, providing a penalty from 8 to 12 years in prison, while the European Union law provides 1 to 3 years or 5 to 10 years for severe cases.
https://www.publico.es/sociedad/detenido-hombre-62-anos-material-pedofilo-extremadamente-duro.html
RESOURCE:
http://www.ecpat.org/wp-content/uploads/legacy/Factsheet_Spain.pdf
https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=celex%3A32011L0093
Click to access Legislation_on_Child_Pornography_Public1.pdf
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