On May 6, 2025, the Debrecen District Court held a preliminary hearing in the case of a defendant who exploited a minor victim on a social media platform.
During the preliminary hearing, the prosecution presented the indictment. The defendant made a confession before the court and waived his right to a trial.
The district court found the 32-year-old man, who had no prior criminal record, guilty of the crime of child pornography and sentenced him to 1 year of imprisonment, the execution of which was suspended for a probationary period of 3 years. The court also ordered the defendant to be placed under the supervision of a probation officer. As a special condition of conduct, the court stipulated that the defendant must participate in individual social behavior-promoting sessions organized by the Hajdú-Bihar County Government Office during the probation period. Furthermore, the court permanently banned the defendant from any occupation or activity involving individuals under the age of 18.
According to the verdict, on October 31, 2023, the defendant added the minor victim as a friend through a social media platform. The fifteen-year-old girl, although she did not know the defendant, accepted his friend request, and a conversation developed between them through the platform’s messaging system. During the exchange of messages, the minor victim informed the defendant of her age and that she was still in school. Following the all-day exchange, on the evening of October 31, 2023, the man asked the girl to send him a nude picture or video of herself.
The girl, in order to impress the defendant, complied with the request and made two video recordings of herself. After sending the videos to the defendant, she later regretted it and shortly thereafter blocked the man, deleted their conversation, and the sent videos.
The man kept the video recordings depicting a victim under the age of eighteen in a manner that grossly violated sexual morality and was intended to arouse sexual desire on his mobile device. On November 3, 2023, from his home in Debrecen, using his own mobile phone via a fake profile he had previously created, the defendant forwarded the video recordings of the girl to the minor victim’s sister. The girl’s sister immediately informed her parents about the incident, and they subsequently filed a police report.
The court’s decision is not yet legally binding; the prosecutor has appealed for a harsher sentence, while the defendant and his lawyer have acknowledged the verdict. The case will proceed to the Debrecen Regional Court.
Main picture: illustraion.
