According to David Custodio Boteo, general director of the PNC, an official investigation was opened in collaboration with the Public Ministry (MP), after detecting the dissemination of images in which naked students appear, while they were bathing or during a medical examination in the academic facilities of this institution.
During a summons with deputy José Chic, the director of the PNC declared that the person who broadcast the videos in which the students appear had already been identified.
“This seems to me to be a rather complicated issue, which could even give rise to complaints and criminal proceedings,” commented the deputy to Custodio Boteo.
The director stressed that it was the head of the PNC’s Sexual Offenses Department who reported the images.
“In the legal framework, article 190 of the Penal Code indicates that anyone who distributes videos of a sexual nature without the person’s authorization faces a prison sentence of two to four years,” Custodio explained.
In the images you can see how a group of women bathe in the academy’s pools. At the discretion of the director, areas are designated for this purpose, but some choose to do it with crates.
“Sometimes, for reasons of time, since there are other people bathing, some agree to shower very quickly. And this does not only happen to women, but also to men,” explained the official.
Abelardo Cucul Maaz, deputy director of Studies and Doctrine of the PNC, clarified that students are not allowed to bring cell phones into the facilities.
“Before entering, everything they bring is inspected: their clothing and what they will wear during their stay, to prevent the entry of devices such as phones,” he said.
Authorities said the preliminary investigation indicates that it was an acting agent who leaked the images, although an investigation is also underway into whether it was an outside person who recorded them.
“It could also be one of the people who work there. The one who downloaded it was a police officer, but we consider that it could have been recorded by an external person,” Custodio explained.
The congressman questioned the lack of controls at the academy, which would allow outsiders to break into cellphones and record at the facilities where new agents are trained.
“I’m concerned that there is no surveillance. If this is someone who works for a company outside the academy, it is even more worrying that he could come in and carry out these types of actions without any supervision,” Chic added.
Cucul ruled out that company employees hired by the police filmed the videos.
“Workers do not spend the night at the academy. These videos, I believe, were filmed in the morning. So I think it must have been a uniformed police officer. This rules out the possibility that it was external personnel,” concluded the deputy director.
What crime is committed
Taking, distributing or sharing images of a person’s body seeking to violate their dignity is a crimeis punishable by law and some cases have resulted in convictions, thus setting a precedent in Guatemala, says lawyer Esteban Celada, a human rights specialist.
Even if the defender recognizes that it is still necessary to “sensitize” the courts to this issue, he assures that there is progress and More and more victims are seeking legal advice so that their attackers can be brought to justice.
With his experience in defending cases of this nature, Celada explained what violation of sexual privacy, In what contexts do these cases occur and what does the legal norm dictate to those who commit this crime?
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Violation of sexual privacy
In March 2009, when the Law against sexual violence, exploitation and trafficking in human beingsa reform was included to article 190 of the Penal Code. From this change, the crime of violation of sexual privacy.
In summary, this article strengthens legislation aimed at protecting people’s sexual privacy, by imposing sanctions on those who attack or violate a person’s sexual privacy without their consent through capture, unauthorized access and dissemination of sensitive information and data, including images.
The standard covers both physical and electronic media, adapting to today’s digital reality, where privacy can be violated by various technologies.
- Capture without consent: Anyone who captures messages, conversations, communications, sounds, images in general or the body of a person without their consent and with the aim of violating their dignity will be punished with imprisonment of 1 to 3 years.
- Unauthorized access and use: The same penalties, of imprisonment of 1 to 3 years, apply to anyone, without authorization, who enters, accesses, uses or modifies reserved communications or data with sexual content of a personal, family or other nature. This data may be recorded in any type of file or medium, whether computer, electronic, telematic, etc., to the detriment of the person owning the data or a third party.
Expanding on the above, as described in the article, sanctions may apply to any person who, without authorization, performs any of the following actions regarding reserved communications or data with sexual content of a personal, family or other nature:
- To input: Take control or possession of data or communications without the consent of the individual concerned.
- Access: Enter or view any such data or communications without authorization.
- To use: Use data or communications for any purpose without the permission of the individual concerned.
- To modify: Modify the content of data or communications without the consent of the owner of the information.
This data can be saved in any type of file or media, including:
- HE: As in computers, servers, databases, hard drives, etc.
- Electronic: On devices like mobile phones, tablets, USB sticks, etc.
- Telematics: In telecommunications systems and networks, such as emails, instant messaging services (WhatsApp, Messenger), cloud storage, etc.
Damage caused to the data owner or a third party:
- Data owner: The person to whom the intimate or sensitive data belongs.
- Third person: Any other person who may be adversely affected by unauthorized access, use or modification of this data.
Tougher penalties in the event of dissemination
For those who distribute, reveal or transfer captured information, the penalties are more severe.
Unlike the act of seizing, capturing, accessing, using or modifying content, which is punishable by a penalty of 1 to 3 years in prison, For those who distribute or share captured images or information, the penalty is 2 to 4 years in prison.
