11 detained for making child pornography, child trafficking, including US, Australian citizens
The operation to identify and detain the individuals took several months, the Georgian Interior Ministry reported. Photo: Shutterstock.
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A criminal group involving 11 individuals have been identified and detained on charges of children trafficking and making child pornography in a joint operation of Georgian, US, Australian law enforcers and Europol.
One American and one Australian citizen are among the detainees, while others are citizens of Georgia, including the parents and relatives of the affected children.
10 underage girls aged 8-14 have been forced to be involved in the illegal activity, with the consent of their parents, who received 800 ($270) - 3,000 ($1000) GEL income from the detainees,” the Interior Ministry reports.
The video released by the Interior Ministry.
The ministry says that the citizens of the US and Australia had a photo salon in a rented apartment in Tbilisi, where, with the help of their Georgian associates, they were making children pornography to sell abroad.
The foreign citizens took the income received from the sale from cryptomats [digital currency ATMs] located at different trade centres in Tbilisi,” the ministry reports.
Photo and video materials have been seized from the apartment, as well as various expensive devices required for taking photos and recording videos, the ministry said.
The crime is punishable by 17 to 20 years in prison or life imprisonment.
The ministry has cited the US Embassy to Georgia as saying that the “detention must be a warning for everyone who inflicts damage to children, that through joint efforts they will be identified, detained and held accountable.”
European Day on the Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse is being marked in Tbilisi today. Georgia joined the European Convention on the protection of children against sexual exploitation and sexual abuse in 2015.
The US Department of State reads in its 2018 Trafficking in Persons Report that the government of Georgia fully meets the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking.
Georgia is among several countries taking steps to improve anti-trafficking legislation, policy and practice according to today’s report of the Council of Europe’s (CoE) anti-trafficking expert group (GRETA).
Georgia has been ranked among Tier 1 nations in the Trafficking in Persons Report 2017; an annual report issued by the United States (US) State Department's Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons.
Ten of 11 individuals, who have been detained in a joint operation by Georgian and foreign law enforcers, for child trafficking and child pornography charges have been sent to ptetrial detention. One man sent to pre-detention is a citizen of the US, who came to Georgia in 2011 to teach English in a village of the Samegrelo region, in western Georgia, where he did so for nine months.
Police have detained three individuals for child trafficking in Tbilisi, reports the Georgian Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA).
Seven individuals, including a mother and two doctors, have been detained by Georgian law enforcers for child trafficking. The detainees attempted to sell a newborn child for $13,000, the investigative department of the Ministry of Finance of Georgia reported today.The ministry reports that during pregnancy the detainees found an individual who wanted the child and was ready to pay the money.
Negotiations are underway for ten individuals detained for child trafficking and child pornography in September 2019 to sign a plea bargain.
Tbilisi City Court has sentenced an American citizen, one of nine to be tried in a child pornography case in Georgia, to 10 years in prison. The American citizen is one of the defendants in a child pornography case with whom the Tbilisi City Court has approved a plea agreement.
The Tbilisi City Court has found one Australian and two Georgian citizens guilty in a child pornography case, sentencing them to 20 and 19 years in prison.
The US Department of States has released its Trafficking in Persons report for 2020 in which Georgia remains in Tier 1, along with the US, UK, Switzerland and others, for fully meeting minimum standards for the elimination of human trafficking. Georgia is the only Eastern Partnership state in Tier 1. “The Georgian government continued to demonstrate serious and sustained efforts during the reporting period; therefore Georgia remained in Tier 1. These efforts included increasing overall prosecution and victim protection efforts."
On the occasion of the 6th European Day on the Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse, the Council of Europe has raised the topic of preventing risky behaviour by children related to self-generating sexual images and/or videos especially during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Georgian government has maintained the highest level of fighting trafficking, the US Department of State said in its 2021 Trafficking in Persons Report. The report says that the government of Georgia managed to demonstrate sustainable efforts considering the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on its anti-trafficking capacity.