Loskarn and Edathy are just two of the more prominent customers of Azov Films. In all,
the company had customers in over ninety-four countries.18 Following the web of relationships
from that one company, Operation Spade has led to the arrest of almost 350 persons thus far,
including clergymen, professors, and teachers across six continents.19 Nearly four hundred
children were rescued from sexual abuse.20 More than fifty countries have been involved, but
each has its own laws defining child pornography with consequences in both the prosecution of
offenders, as well as recovery for the victims.21 At the extreme, for example, are countries like
Japan who, at the time of Operation Spade, had not criminalized the possession of child
pornography.22
In the case of Edathy, German prosecutors were faced with a “legal grey zone” because
the definition of child pornography in Germany arguably did not include the images recovered.23
German law requires child sexual abuse images to contain explicit sexual acts, such as sexual
intercourse or acts close to the genital area.24 A German criminal law expert explained, “pictures
containing only nudity or pictures of a child taken secretly are not punishable.”25 As a result,
although Edathy’s political career may be ruined, his criminal prosecution is uncertain.26
What about Edathy’s victims? The children in the images were mainly from poor villages
in Romania.27 In 2007, Marcus R., a German timber worker in Romania, began selling videos of
naked children to Azov Films.28 Prior to moving to Romania, Marcus R. had served a prison
sentence in Germany for sexually abusing children, but he was able to reinvent himself in
Romania as an active community member.29 He taught local boys karate and bought them treats
;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;
(Mar. 6, 2014), http://www.zeit.de/2014/10/staatsanwaltschaft-fall-edathy (English translation can be found at
http://www.boychat.org/messages/1386543.htm).
17 M.L. Nestel, EXCLUSIVE – ‘He Didn’t Want to Cause Us Anymore Shame’: Father Reveals it was Family Babysitter who Molested
Senate Aide who Killed Himself After Child Porn Bust and Blamed Abusive Past in Haunting Suicide Note, DAILY MAIL (Jan. 31,
2014, 4:15 PM), http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2549007/Father-Senate-aide-left-haunting-suicide-note-blaming-past-sex-
abuse-child-porn-bust-reveals-son-molested-twice-familys-babysitter.html. Loskarn was also participating in a child pornography
peer-to-peer network file-sharing site called “Gnutella,” credited as being the source for the rape video.
18 Kern, supra note 16. The Canadian company came under examination as part of the Canadian government’s “Operation Spade,” a
three-year investigation into a large child pornography operation that led to the rescue of 386 children and the arrest of 348 people.
Canada: Hundreds Arrested in Child Pornography Investigation, N.Y. TIMES (Nov. 14, 2013),
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/15/world/americas/canada-hundreds-arrested-in-child-pornography-investigation.html?smid=pl-
share (“The investigation led to the arrest of 108 people in Canada, 76 in the United States and 164 in other countries during the
investigation. Schoolteachers, doctors and actors were among those arrested.”).
19 David Usborne, Hundreds Arrested as Canadian Police Smash Worldwide Paedophile Ring, INDEPENDENT (Nov. 14, 2013),
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/hundreds-arrested-as-canadian-police-smash-global-paedophile-ring-
8940562.html.
20 Id.
21 Hundreds Held Over Canada Child Porn, BBC (Nov. 14, 2013, 1:24 PM), http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-24944358;
ALISDAIR A. GILLESPIE, CHILD PORNOGRAPHY: LAW AND POLICY 339 (2011).
22 Jethro Mullen & Yoko Wakutsuki, After Long Wait, Japan Moves to Ban Possession of Child Pornography, CNN (June 9, 2014,
10:37 PM), http://www.cnn.com/2014/06/06/world/asia/japan-child-pornography/index.html. It was not until June 2014 that Japan
finally criminalized possession of child pornography.
23Nastassja Steudel, Child Pornography’s Legal Grey Zone, DEUTSCHE WELLE (Feb. 14, 2014), http://www.dw.de/child-
pornographys-legal-grey-zone/a-17434876.
24 STRAFGESETZBUCH [STGB] [PENAL CODE], Nov. 13, 1998, BGBL I at 3322, § 184b, 176(1) (Ger.); Steudel, supra note 23.
25 Steudel, supra note 23.
26 Evidence may also be a problem in this case. After searching Edathy’s home, prosecutors found “less than they expected, including
signs that a hard disc may have been destroyed.” Entangled: A Child-Porn Scandal Triggers the First Big Crisis in the Grand
Coalition, supra note 11. Edathy also reported his laptop stolen. Id.
27 Id.
28 Maximilian Popp, Child Pornography: Victims of Exploitation Struggle to Forget, SPIEGEL ONLINE INT’L (Feb. 26, 2014, 5:01 PM),
http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/exploited-young-romanians-from-azov-films-videos-traumatized-a-955748.html.
