Because of the offense of “pornographic depictions of minors” (paragraph 207a of the Criminal Code), a 55-year-old father had to sit down in front of a single judge, Martina Kocher, at the Salzburg Regional Court on Wednesday.
The Serb, who lives in Salzburg, was accused by the public prosecutor’s office of having taken five photos of his then two-year-old son with his cell phone in 2020, which would show “luridly distorted (…) images of the pubic area serving the sexual arousal of the viewer”. . In addition, the 55-year-old is said to have taken a photo and also saved it on his cell phone that shows his little boy touching his own genitals.
During the trial, the defendant resolutely rejected the claim. It was just a matter of photos that he took while bathing the boy.
Judge Kocher acquitted the father. She justifies the acquittal as follows: The photographs taken by the accused do not correspond to the legal definition of child pornography. Rather, the father took photos of the boy while he was bathing, which were not luridly distorted. Also, the focus of the pictures was not on the pubic area or the genitals of the child. The acquittal is not final.
