Zoetermeer man in custody for distributing "unprecedentedly" violent child pornography

A 57-year-old man from Zoetermeer is in custody for distributing violent images of child sexual abuse on Telegram, the Public Prosecution Service (OM) said on Friday. “This case concerns unprecedentedly violent photos and videos with very young children. What we have encountered is footage that is out of the ordinary. Even for the most experienced child pornography investigators,” said Linda van den Oever, national prosecutor for child pornography and child sex tourism.

On October 16, the Dutch police received a report about a Dutch man suspected to have recently distributed child pornography from the dark web on Telegram. Investigation showed that the Zoetermeer resident is a member of dozens of “extreme Telegram groups” focused on sharing child pornography, also managing several of them. The man was arrested on January 30. The court in Dordrecht remanded him into custody again on Friday.

The groups vary from dozens to 1,500 members. One of them had the condition “no limits” attached to it. “That is significant and unfortunately appears to be true,” prosecutor Van den Oever said. In addition to videos of sexual violence against children, the members of these groups also shared numerous videos of other types of violence, including beheadings.

The prosecutor called Telegram a simple, accessible way for perpetrators to share such criminal material from their phones. “We are increasingly seeing a shift from the dark web to encrypted chat apps like Telegram,” said Van der Oever. “Behind all these images are real children who are victims of serious sexual violence. The images will continue to circulate online and in these types of groups forever. Being a member of groups where such material is shared is punishable.”

The investigation into the Zoetermeer man is ongoing. The OM expects he will stand trial sometime this summer.