Greece to pursue child porn addicts

Greece will toughen its laws against the production and distribution of child pornography following a spate of recent arrests, Justice Minister Anastassis Papaligouras confirmed Thursday.

Papaligouras said a new draft bill will allow maximum prison sentences of more than 10 years and fines of up to €500,000 for people convicted of producing or distributing child pornography. The stiffest penalties will be for cases where children suffered grievous bodily harm as a result of the sexual acts depicted.

The minimum sentence will be one year in prison - doubled when the pornographic material is distributed over the Internet.

Last month, Greek authorities filed charges against 20 people accused of running a Web site that featured photos of children as young as 4 in sexual acts with adults, and even with animals. Some 50 people have been arrested on child porn charges over the past two years, the AP reports.

V.Y.