An investigation into pedophilia has been opened in Germany. No less than 30,000 people are suspected in this case and about 70 suspects were identified across Germany so far.
Around 30,000 people are involved in a pedophilia case in Germany, the Justice Minister said on Monday 29 June. “We want to bring child abusers and their supporters out of anonymity on the Internet,” said Peter Biesenbach, Justice Minister of the North Rhine-Westphalia region, where the scandal broke, at a press conference.
So far, about 70 people were suspected in this case, which began last autumn in the town of Bergisch Gladbach. Several of them are currently on trial. They are suspected of having abused and mistreated children for years and of having shared their misdeeds filmed on online discussion groups. Investigators have so far identified at least 40 victims.
German investigators were alerted by Canadian police officers who discovered child pornography from this area of western Germany. A 42-year-old man, whose trial is scheduled to begin in August, has already been arrested. Investigators have recovered huge amounts of child pornography from his apartment.
Another perpetrator, a 27-year-old soldier, was sentenced to 10 years in jail in May and held in a mental hospital for an indefinite period of time. Germany has been suffering from serious incidents of child sexual exploitation over the last 18 months.
Earlier this month, some 11 men were detained on suspicion of assaulting children and filming their acts after recordings and photographs were taken from a suspect’s cellar in the western city of Münster. Police confirmed they had recognized at least three victims, five, ten and twelve years of age.
Chats with thousands of participants
In the process, they also uncovered the existence of various discussion groups with several thousand participants. It is now these “chat room” recipients who find themselves in the cross-hairs of the German justice system.
After many incidents of pedophilia that have shaken the nation in recent years, the authorities are now more intransigent. “The writers who engage in the groups believe child abuse to be ‘normal’ and find a vast number of like-minded individuals. The thresholds for inhibition are dropping.
And this is what characterizes this situation in terms of criminal law,” warned Biesenbach. “If we want to actively combat child abuse on the internet, we also need to talk about legal regulations on data storage. One does not work without the other”, he added.
