A student from Sint-Truiden, who is approximately 20, and an occasional Scout leader, has been identified by the police as being at the root of an exchange forum of photos of 142 young naked women. The information was reported in Het Belang van Limburg and Het Nieuwsblad on Saturday. The individual risks a 15-year prison sentence.
Last week we learned that Belgian and Dutch journalists had succeeded in flushing out an encrypted Internet site, where photos of young nude women were being exchanged. The Public Prosecutor’s Office opened an investigation and the federal police Computer Crime Unit quickly followed the lead of a youngster from Sint-Truiden. The individual created the exchange platform, and photos that he was selling or exchanging.
The forum had a total of 3,000 users. The photos, of both adults and children, were listed on the site by the Belgian provinces in which the girls and women lived. The majority of the 142 known victims were not aware that negatives of themselves were being circulated in this way.
The suspect had a hearing on Tuesday, but no warrant for his arrest was issued.
The Brussels Times
