Denial over paid child porn claims

13 May 2005

AMSTERDAM — A journalist working with television crime reporter Peter R. de Vries has denied claims from the Foreign Press Foundation that Amsterdam public prosecutor Joost Tonino deliberately paid for child pornography found on his computer.

Tonino dumped his work computer with garbage outside his home last year because he thought it was defective. The computer later ended up in the hands of Peter R. de Vries, who examined it and reported last week that evidence of child porn had been found in its memory.

Journalist Kees van der Spek, who works on the Peter R. de Vries programme, said the child porn found on the hard drive was deliberately or by accident downloaded from the internet.

“Because the investigators of the prosecution office could not prove he downloaded it on purpose, Tonino could not be charged over this,” he said.

Tonino also visited 39 hardcore pornography newsgroups, 29 of which focused on youth sex. Newsgroups are discussion platforms and can be used for the exchange of visual material.

Van der Spek said the types of photos exchanged frequently change. Currently, the 29 newsgroups are focused on child porn, but it is uncertain whether they were child pornography groups two to three years ago when Tonino used them.

Nevertheless, Van der Spek said there is a “big chance” these newsgroups were also focused on child pornography at that time.

The Foreign Press Foundation claimed recently that Expatica and Dutch news agency ANP deliberately omitted the fact that Tonino paid for child pornography with his own credit card via paypal.com.

And the foundation was adamant again on Friday that Tonino paid for child porn, claiming that no pornography is offered for free. Chairman Henk Ruyssenaars said even the OM has been quoted by Dutch media talking about paid access to sex sites.

Van der Spek denied any suggestion of evidence of paid access to child pornography on the computer, but pointed to intentional or accidental traces of child porn found on it.

The computer also contained a private letter in which Tonino alleged admitted to a friend that he “finds it difficult not to lower himself to grab a juicy little boy”. Tonino has unsuccessfully applied for a job at the Children’s Protection Council.

Van der Spek said the Peter R. de Vries network of journalists questions whether Tonino’s actions are appropriate for a public prosecutor.

An investigation by the Public Prosecutor’s Office (OM) indicated that the child porn images were a “by-product” of internet surfing. Tonino will not be charged.

In response, Van der Spek accused the OM of protecting “one of its own”.

Subject: Dutch news