23 Swedish women convicted of child pornography

GlobalPost

A court has convicted 23 Swedish women of child pornography offenses. A man has also been charged in the case, which according to investigators, is particularly unique because of the number of female perpetrators, reports the Associated Press.  

The man, Lars Skoglund, was sentenced to one year in prison for aggravated child pornography. He distributed large quantities of child pornography which featured children to the women. The women, aged between 38 and 70, were given conditional sentences and fines for their involvement, reports AFP.

Authorities found some 1,181 pictures and 40 films with child pornography in the man's computer, including graphic images of children who were chained and raped by adults.

The women discussed the sexually explicit video clips and photographs of children from Skoglund, 43, after he sent the pornographic images to the women. Swedish police said that this is mostly likely the first child pornography case worldwide to involve so many women.

"Even though they (the women) ... obviously must take full responsibility for their actions, nothing else can be said than that he has abused their weak psychological state and longing for human contact. This has been systematical," the court said.

"This case has changed the way I view humanity,” said the prosecutor, Niclas Eltenius. to news agency TT reports Swedish newspaper The Local.  

According to the AFP:

The court found that "most of the women were psychologically unstable" and Skoglund had "taken advantage of the women's poor psychological states and longing for human contact.

Skoglund contacted the women on the Internet and had sexual relations with about half of them, although they did not know one another.  

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