Parents report magazine for child porn

16 March 2004

AMSTERDAM — The parents of a 15-year-old Eindhoven girl have lodged a police complaint against popular weekly magazine Aktueel, which published nude photographs of the teenager last week.

The parents’ lawyer, H. Nieuwenhuizen, has accused Editor-in-Chief Aryan Börger and photographer Hans van Uden of publishing child pornography. The porn-and-scandal publisher says the girl, identified by her first name Melissa, lied and claimed she was 18.

A lawyer representing the magazine, K. Gilhuis, said the parents were offered a settlement in which the magazine would publish a rectification in the following issue. The girl has also received financial compensation, possibly several thousand euros. The exact amount has not been disclosed.

Furthermore, the magazine has also tried to remove the magazine from retail shelves in and around the Eindhoven region, newspaper De Telegraaf reported on Tuesday.

But Nieuwenhuizen said that only a provisional agreement had been reached and that the deal stipulated all copies of the magazine would be removed from shops across the country. He said this has not yet occurred.

Hitting back, the Aktueel lawyer said the magazine only promised to ask all retail outlets to remove the magazine from their shelves, but could not guarantee that this would happen. The lawyer refused to comment on the police complaint.

Aktueel publishes women in almost completely naked poses every week, labelling them the “Kanjer” or eyeful of the week. The magazine featured Melissa last week.

The photos were taken 10 months ago when the barely 15-year-old Melissa accompanied a 19-year-old girlfriend who had volunteered for a photo session.

Melissa decided there and then she would also pose for the camera and lied about her age. She reportedly told her parents about the photo shoot, but her parents did not think that Aktueel would actually use the photos.

Nothing was heard of the matter for almost a year, until a girlfriend confronted Melissa with the published photos on 10 March, the Wegener group of regional newspapers reported.

Lawyer Nieuwenhuizen has since said the photographer — who had 20 years experience — should have known Melissa was underage.

Editor-in-Chief Börger said he was shocked to learn that Melissa was not 18. He explained that five to 10 women request each week to be photographed and it is not always immediately apparent whether an applicant is 16 or 24, newspaper Algemeen Dagblad reported.

“To prevent these sorts of error, in future we will ask to see someone’s identification if we have doubts,” he said.

Subject: Dutch news