Azov Films Scenes From Crimea Vol 1 2009 5l
Oleta Blaylock
Project Spade, an international police investigation into child pornography, began in October 2010 in Toronto, Canada. The investigation started when Toronto Police Service officers made on-line contact with a man who was alleged to have been sharing pornographic videos via the Internet and by mail. The investigation eventually covered over 50 countries. 348 people were arrested internationally, and 386 children were said to have been rescued. The primary producers were Igor Rusanov and Andrey Ivanov in Crimea, Ukraine, Markus Roth in Romania, and Paul Kruger in Germany.[1]
Following numerous complaints received by the website cybertip.ca about Azov Films,[2] the investigation began in October 2010 when undercover police made online contact with Brian Way, a 42-year-old man from Toronto[3] and the owner of Toronto-based Azov Films, a firm that distributed DVDs and streaming videos of naked children which it marketed as "naturist."[4][5]
In May 2011, Way's home and office were raided, and he was arrested.[3] Toronto law enforcement authorities and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service recreated Way's customer records and shared them with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and Interpol. Investigations involved more than 50 countries.[3] Way is alleged to have earned more than $4 million from his website.[6]
Apart from Canada, Australia and the United States, authorities in Hong Kong, South Africa, Spain and Sweden were involved.[6] Investigations also spread to Greece, Ireland, New Zealand, and Norway.[7]
Inspector Joanna Beaven-Desjardins, of the TPS' Sex Crimes Unit, said, "It's a first for the magnitude of the victims saved" and "the amount of arrests internationally, also a first."[3] Beaven-Desjardins also spoke about materials seized from Way's home: "Officers located hundreds of thousands of images and videos detailing horrific sexual acts against very young children, some of the worst that they have ever viewed."[3] The materials distributed commercially by Azov featured nude athletic and recreational scenes, but not explicit sexual acts.[8][9] The nudity-only nature of the Azov material caused it to be classified in the UK as level 1 on the COPINE scale for rating images of children, i.e., generally beneath the threshold of legal interest.[10] This standardized rating caused controversy, as politicians and members of the UK press later accused the National Crime Agency of negligence.[11]
The German Federal Criminal Police Office was informed in October 2011, but investigations only started in October 2012, with the list of customers being distributed to the German states' authorities in November 2012.[14] During 13 months of holding back any investigations it should have been obvious for Federal Criminal Police Office that within the list there were IP-numbers of Deutscher Bundestag with at least several downloads of nude material of boys between the ages of 9 and 14 towards the German Bundestag IP-numbers range.[15]
Five hundred of the 800 listed persons had purchased unambiguous child pornography according to German legal standards; the rest had bought material not considered to be illegal.[14] A German MP appeared on the list; since the material he purchased wasn't categorized as clearly illegal, the case was held back pending further investigations, until 10 February 2014, when his house was raided.[16] According to Jrg Frhlich, public prosecutor in Hannover, Lower Saxony, the raid took place for reason of a higher count of other public prosecutor agencies handling similar cases this way against the account of agencies favoring not to do so when found material would need to be categorized as so-called "II" instead of "I".[17][better source needed] The passing of secret information regarding the investigation to the MP's party leader resulted in the resignation of the former German Interior Minister, Hans-Peter Friedrich.
The home raid on Edathy when he had only purchased materials classified as legal was criticized in a national newspaper, Die Zeit, in a guest editorial by Thomas Fischer, Chief Judge of the German Federal Court.[18] He stated, "Law exists in clear boundaries between permitted and forbidden behavior. Justice dares not follow he who does nothing illegal. In the Edathy case, this rule has been violated." In contrast, however, Mick Moran, head of Interpol's Human Trafficking and Child Exploitation unit, issued a public warning on Twitter to "MAPs" ("minor-attracted persons") that any sign they were acting upon their sexual orientations, whether the actions were legal or illegal, "demonstrates an escalation of activity by 'MAPs' that must be interpreted as an increased risk to children regardless of the illegality" and that "must result in action by public safety officials."
Public discussion about nude pictures of children being legal in Germany, when not categorized as sexual in nature, led within hours to a published consent from all parliamentary parties, as well as from Germany's Minister of Justice Heiko Maas, for a prompt change of the relevant law.
Apart from the children involved in the production of the Azov films, 386 children were said to have been rescued from exploitation by purchasers of the films. In Canada alone, 24 were rescued [citation needed] while six were rescued in Australia.[citation needed] "More than 330 children"[19] were stated to have been rescued in the US. This high number has been questioned, since full details of the charges for 54 of the total of 76 arrests in the US had been publicly released as of 14 November 2013, and these details account for fewer than 15 persons exposed as children to current or historical sexual contact.[citation needed] An additional 75 to 100 children were surreptitiously indecently photographed, mostly by two arrested men who were school employees.[citation needed] The 'exploitative positions' always included nudity or genital exposure.
As of 14 November 2013[update], 348 people were arrested internationally. Those arrested included engineers, teachers, foster parents, doctors and nurses. A police officer and a youth baseball coach were also arrested.[3][6] A Richmond, Virginia, man was sentenced to 70 months in prison on 11 April 2013, for receipt of child pornography.[20]
In Canada alone 108 people were arrested.[3] In the US 76 were arrested.[21] In Australia arrests began in August 2013 and 65 persons aged from 25 to 72 were arrested.[6] In Spain 28 were arrested in December 2012.[22]
Way has been charged with 24 offenses. The charges include "instruction of a criminal organisation" and "making, possessing, distributing and exporting child exploitation ... ", which had "explicit images of boys ranging in age from toddlers to teens."[3] Way's mother, Sandra Waslov, is still sought by authorities. Waslov changed her name on 21 May 2010 in Orchard Park, Erie County, New York.[3][23]
Martin Goldberg, a deputy headteacher in Essex, hanged himself after being investigated following information uncovered in Canada. Approximately 75 indecent images of children were found in his possession from his schools' changing rooms; 465 were taken at the swimming pools of his local leisure centre and 38 from other locations.[30]
A few years ago, Federal agents raided and closed Azov Film Company in Canada. Azov was well-known in the porn business as a distributer of "nearly-porn" movies of your Crimean boys wrestling and frolicking together. The idea was that if the movies were not "sexual" than they would not be kiddie-porn. The videos were referenced in the on-line boy porn chat rooms as "naturalist" videos and not as pornographic. Well the Feds have disagreed.
The first in what may become a pathetically painful mass arrest related to Azov Films occurred today when Dr. Richard Keller, a 56-year-old pediatrician at Boston Children's Hospital was arrested for possession of child pornography. The arrest affidavit appears to have been made on the basis of Azov Films DVDs.
Azov was a company from Crimea (Ukraine) which filmed boys in non-sexual naturist situations, mostly outdoors or in sporting facilities. Its main impresario, Igor Rusanov, was arrested in early August 2011 by Ukrainian authorities. He was accused of manufacturing pornography, which in Ukraine, is illegal no matter what age group is involved. He had made at least two pornographic films featuring males over 18.
Rusanov's ostensibly legal films of under-18's became objects of legal scrutiny in the U.S. just before Rusanov was arrested. A distribution plant was raided and records were seized. Since then, many customers of the studio have been waiting to see what would happen.
Anonymous boychat.org poster Vallhund was able to identify the film titles in the Keller affidavit as pertaining exclusively to Azov. Here is a quote from his posting today (September 14, 2012). Azov Films posted material about the legality of its products on its website, and sold its non-sexual nudist DVDs, mostly showing sports scenes, showers, saunas and swimming, in the understanding that U.S. law in all but a few states allowed the portrayal of 'nudity only'for all age groups. The classification of the material as child-pornographic represents a marked cinching-up of the interpretation of existing laws, rather than the appearance of new legislation. Keller is thus the victim of an experiment in conservative legal change put forward by prosecuting authorities, rather than a conscious lawbreaker.
Since victims of such psychosexual assaults by law enforcement agencies nearly always capitulate to their humiliation, there is a danger that Keller may plead guilty and thus enable the establishment of this legal change. Professionals working with children are typically the earliest victims in campaigns of this nature. Based on the pattern shown in the takedown of the boylover.net website, the many who are not legal offenders in any heretofore known way then become sullied in press releases with the crimes of the small minority who were contact offenders.
Given the probable number of people who ordered Azov DVDs, the indictment are going to start coming fast and furrous. Look out if you believed the on-line discussions about the legality of the videos.