Ex-mayor tried for downloading 10,000 child pornography images

Europe 1 with AFP / Photo credit: XOSE BOUZAS / HANS LUCAS / HANS LUCAS VIA AFP 16:38 p.m., April 26, 2023

A one-year suspended prison sentence was requested Wednesday at the Dijon Criminal Court, against the former mayor of Echenon, in the Côte d'Or, accused of downloading more than 10,000 child pornography images. Dominique Lott, who resigned last December from his post as mayor of the town of about 800 inhabitants, is one of 48 men arrested in mid-November across the France during a vast operation to combat child pornography.

"More than 2,000 download links"

The investigation had then discovered 10,200 child pornography files, downloaded from May 19, 2021 to July 25, 2022, leading to prosecution for acquisition, possession and dissemination of "images of a minor of a pornographic nature". "More than 2,000 download links" were found at his home, as well as traces of "searches on keywords with minors' ages up to 8 years," said deputy Pauline Fritsch, representing the prosecution.

>> READ ALSO - Palmade case: an investigation for child pornography opened after a report

"Dominique Lott participated by his behavior in these rapes" of children filmed, she added, stressing the contrast with the function of mayor, who has the quality of judicial police officer. Pauline Fritsch requested a one-year suspended prison sentence for a period of two years. It also demanded, inter alia, compulsory psychological care, disqualification and deprivation of the right to vote for five years, and a ban on any activity in contact with minors.

A victim of the "dangers of the internet"?

"He succumbed to the sirens of the internet," pleaded the lawyer of the accused, Elodie Mifsud. Presenting her client, not as "the big bad wolf" but as a victim of the "dangers of the internet", she stressed that he had "believed that it was not so serious" to consult these images, ensuring that he "did not know" that he was broadcasting them by downloading them on peer-to-peer file-sharing software. "We have not well trained the older generations" on the internet, said Mifsud.

>> LISTEN - Summons for child pornography: an email scam makes thousands of victims

"There is no point in denying it," said the 63-year-old defendant, visibly very embarrassed by the media hype caused by the case. "I made a first download out of curiosity," he said, later assuring that he was caught in a "gear". "I was like, 'You're completely crazy. And I stopped. Then, a few months later, I started again," said the grandfather of several grandchildren aged a few years. "I work with a psychologist," he added. The judgement was reserved until 2 May at 13.30 p.m.