The Supreme Court has increased the sentence imposed on convicts at first instance, for a case involving the commission of offenses related to child pornography.
Specifically, the Supreme Court increased the maximum sentence ordered at first instance from 3½ years to 5 years, stating that the sentences imposed on the charges concerning children mainly under 13 years of age "are clearly insufficient".
The convict was found guilty on five charges, on the basis of his own admission, by the Nicosia Criminal Court, relating to offenses in violation of Articles 8 (1), 8 (6), 14 (1) (34) of the Prevention and Control of Sexual Abuse, Sexual Exploitation of Children and Child Pornography Law 91 (I) / 2014, while the fifth Category concerned the possession of pornographic material in violation of Articles 2, 11 (1) (d) and 17 of the Anti-Trafficking and the Exploitation of Persons and the Protection of Victims of Law 87 (I) / 2007.
Categories 1 and 3 concerned pornography with children under the age of 13, while categories 2 and 4 concerned the possession of pornographic material with children over the age of 13.
Category 5 involved videos of child pornography with sadistic content to a child under 13 years of age.
In its judgment of 19 October 2021, the Supreme Court stated that "there is no doubt that the present case was particularly serious in view of both the volume of pornographic material and the level at which it is classified, as well as the fact that a significant part of this concerns children under the age of 13 ".
"It is also not insignificant, but on the contrary a particularly aggravating element and the fact that the total criminal activity of the defendant lasted for a long time", he adds in the decision.
He also notes that "the Criminal Court, despite the fact that it referred to the aggravating elements of the case, in practice we find that these are not reflected in the amount of the sentence, which was finally imposed on the Defendant in Categories 1 and 3".
The Supreme Court increased the prison sentence from 3½ years to 5 years in Category 1, as well as 3½ years to 5 years in Category 3, with the sentences serving.