Court, man who captured and stored naked body and underwear while on video call with lover... What is the outcome of the trial?

Key factors include whether filming or reproduction is in violation of the Sexual Violence Punishment Act, distribution, or possession.
Chief Judge Jeong Eun-young: “The other person was not filmed against their will... not guilty.”

A decision was made to acquit a man who was accused of capturing and keeping several images of the other person's naked body and underwear while on a video call with his lover.

On the 12th, Chief Judge Jeong Eun-young of the Cheonan Branch of the Daejeon District Court found Mr. A, a man in his 50s, not guilty on charges of violating the Special Act on the Punishment of Sexual Crimes (possession of filmed material using cameras, etc.).

During a video call with Mr. B, with whom he was in a relationship from 2019 to 2021, Mr. A captured the mobile phone screen showing the other person's body about four times. Mr. A was charged with violating the Sexual Violence Punishment Act because the other person in the video was wearing only underwear or was naked.

According to police investigation records, it was confirmed that Mr. B had an affair with Mr. A and then broke up. Afterwards, when Mr. A's wife discovered the screenshot and filed a civil suit against Mr. B, Mr. B reported that the video call was made against his will.

In this criminal trial, the main factor was that it was filmed by the victim, Mr. B, and that it was not filmed in a situation against the victim's will.

Chief Judge Jeong Eun-young said, “The video information possessed by the defendant is a video of the victim's own body filmed through a video call, and was not filmed against the victim's will. The defendant did not delete the captured photos, but simply kept them and did not disseminate them. Punishment provisions cannot be retroactively applied to possession.”

Law Firm (Yuhan) Daeryun, who represented Mr. A, explained, “In the case of charges such as filming using a camera, etc., or possessing illegal footage, proving whether the video information of the incident corresponds to filming or reproductions stipulated in the Sexual Violence Punishment Act has a significant impact on the court’s judgment of guilt or innocence.” He added, “This case led to a not guilty verdict by proving the circumstances that the defendant’s actions were not carried out against the victim’s will and that no acts such as distribution were committed.”

He continued, “Like the case above, things done in an intimate relationship between lovers can lead to criminal charges after they break up,” and “You can forget about it and end up being investigated by an investigative agency overnight. In these cases, a quick legal response is needed.”
 

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