Police officer sentenced to 45 days in prison for unauthorized saving of obscene images of two women

A Turkish Cypriot police officer has been sentenced to 45 days in prison for illegally saving the obscene images of two women to his personal computer without their consent.

The verdict against the former detective was delivered by a Lefkosa court on Thursday.

The defendant named only as FG was accused of transferring the obscene images of two women into his personal computer while working in the Special Investigation Unit of the Lefkosia Police Department in 2016.

He was arrested on charges of "Violation of Privacy" following a complaint by the victims.

Delivering the judgement in court, the judge said in 2016, the defendant's superiors had directed him to take a statement within the scope of the investigation of violation of privacy.

The judge noted that the defendant was not given any instructions other than taking a statement, but he transferred the obscene images of the complainants in the investigation file to his personal computer on June 14, 2016, and to his personal hard disk on July 17, 2016.

The judge stated that the defendant said that he copied the images as part of his investigation and duty.

“In the investigation in question, the defendant was not the investigating officer of the incident. Additionally, the defendant was not given any instructions other than taking a statement. Moreover, even if he were an investigating officer, it would not be acceptable for the defendant to take personal data outside the police building and transfer it to his personal computer and hard disk. This means personal data remains unprotected.”

The judge said he found the defendant guilty and convicted him for transferring the personal data in the investigation file to his personal computer and hard disk without permission, even though he was not authorized to do so.

The judge stated that it is unacceptable for a police officer to commit such a crime.

The judge stated that he considered the fact that the defendant had been suspended from duty since 2020 and that he did not use the personal data he copied in any field.

The judge stated that he also took into account the fact that the defendant would not be harmed professionally when determining the sentence, and sentenced the defendant to imprisonment for 45 days.