11 detained for child trafficking, child pornography, including school teacher
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Police have detained 11 more individuals for child trafficking and child pornography, including parents and one school teacher, the Ministry of Internal Affair reports.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs says that 10 underage girls aged 8-14 have been forced to be involved in the illegal activity by their parents and others.
A citizen of the US and Australia had a photo salon in a rented apartment in Tbilisi, where they were making children pornography (photo and video materials) to sell abroad.
The school teacher was actively involved in the selection of children and was assisting the US citizen, who was detained in September of 2019 in connection with this criminal case.
The crime is punishable from 17 to 20 years in prison or life imprisonment.
11 individuals were detained in September 2019 in connection with this criminal case in a joint operation of Georgian, US, Australian law enforcers and Europol.
One American and one Australian citizen were among the detainees, while others were citizens of Georgia, mostly parents and relatives of the affected underage girls.
The affected children will be provided with psychological and social help, says the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
The Georgian Interior Ministry has held a meeting with members of international organisations, NGOs and state agencies earlier today to speak about crimes committed against and by minors.
A 35-year-old woman has been detained in Tbilisi who forced her 12 and 13-year-old children to beg for money on central Pekini Street, threatening them with physical and sexual exploitation if they refused to do so.
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.
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.
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.