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Italy charges 1,500 people in child porn inquiry

pornography
Child pornography has been spread worldwide via the Internet.  

ROME, Italy -- An Italian prosecutor has charged almost 1,500 Italian and foreign nationals in connection with a investigation into child pornography on the Internet.

In the inquiry -- which could lead to one of the biggest trials in Italy -- prosecutor Alfredo Ormanni has ordered 831 Italians to stand trial.

He has also called for 660 foreigners to be tracked down and sent to Italy to answer the charges.

The child pornography case is focused around a paedophile ring based in Russia which was uncovered a month ago.

It is believed extradition requests and international arrest warrants may be issued for those accused outside Italy, who are believed to be mainly in Russia, France and Malaysia.

The huge number of people were trapped in a complex investigation which involved the authorities setting up a fake paedophile Internet website.

The site, set up with the help of the world's biggest software company, Microsoft, was called "amantideibambini" ("loversofchildren").

It registered 1,032 subscribers despite a number of clear warnings to make sure they wanted to enter it.

A number of those charged, none of them Italian, have been accused of offering pornographic material over the Internet.

The vast majority face charges of downloading child pornography.

The charges were made exactly a month after the paedophile scandal erupted in Italy following a swoop on 600 homes in the country.

Eight people were initially arrested in Italy on charges of possessing and trading in child pornography, all of it from Russia.

Three people were at first believed to have been detained in Russia in connection with the paedophile ring but the reports were later found to be false.

A police operation specialising in Internet crime and based near the port city of Naples reported that the Russian paedophile ring ran an operation to kidnap children from orphanages, circuses and public parks and film them while they were forced to commit sexual acts.

In Italy, packages ordered on the Internet were intercepted when they arrived by mail and were repacked. They were then delivered to the addresses by undercover police officers disguised as postal workers and carrying hidden cameras.

The material cost between $400 and $6,000 for each video or disc depending on the type of film the customer wanted -- the more horrific, the more costly.

The service was divided into several categories. "SNIPE" was the term given by the ring for videos of children filmed nude without their knowledge.

"CP" was the code word for ordering an item from a paedophile's "private collection."

The most gruesome, police said, was coded "Necros Pedo," in which children were raped and tortured to death.

Italian prosecutor Ormanni told Italian news agency ANSA he believed those accused in Italy would cooperate with the court and may thereby avoid a jail sentence.

"But the important thing is to succeed in freeing at least one of the children who appear in those horrendous pictures," Ormanni said. "If we do succeed, we will have achieved a large part of our goal."

Reuters contributed to this report.



RELATED STORIES:
Vigilante group targets child-porn sites
January 11, 2000
Bill would double budget to fight Internet child pornography
February 12, 1999

RELATED SITES:
Interpol
Italian Police
The Anti Pedophile Network

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