Appeals court upholds sentences in child pornography case

The Nicosia Court of Appeal has unanimously rejected an appeal filed by the Attorney General against a 31-year-old man convicted of child pornography offenses. The defendant was initially sentenced by the Nicosia District Court to 18 months for acquiring 792 files, 14 months for possessing three files, and 30 months for acquiring 186 files depicting children under 13 years old. These sentences run concurrently, and the court also issued supervision and exclusion orders prohibiting the individual from visiting areas frequented by children for three years post-release. The Attorney General had argued that the sentences were manifestly inadequate, citing the gravity of the crimes and the high maximum penalties allowed by law. He further contended that the original court had overemphasized mitigating factors. However, the Court of Appeal ruled that the original sentences were not manifestly insufficient and confirmed the lower court's decision in full. The investigation discovered nearly 1,000 files in total on the defendant's laptop, along with file-sharing software like BitTorrent and uTorrent.