South Korea sentences head of sexual blackmail band to 40 years in prison: Report
26 November, 2020
A South Korean courtroom on Thursday (Nov 26) sentenced the leader of an online sexual blackmail band to 40 years in prison, the Yonhap media agency reported.
Cho Ju-bin, 24, was found guilty of going an online network that blackmailed at least 74 women, including 16 young adults, into what authorities called "virtual enslavement" by forcing them to send increasingly degrading and often violent sexual imagery of themselves between May 2019 and February 2020.
The Seoul Central District Courtroom sentenced Cho for violating criminal and kid protection laws by making and releasing pornography and owning a criminal organisation, Yonhap explained.
Cho's lawyer cannot be reached for comment. On the other hand, when he was used into police custody in March, Cho said he wanted to apologise to the victims.
"The defendant experienced lured and threatened multiple victims in various ways to produce pornography and distributed it for years to many," Yonhap reported, citing the unidentified judge who passed down the verdict and sentence. "He specifically inflicted irrecoverable harm to various victims by publishing their identifies."
The case sparked a national outcry, with an incredible number of Koreans signing petitions urging authorities to release Cho's identity and investigate not merely the organisers, but also participants of the network who paid just as much as 1.5 million won (US$1,360) to start to see the abusive videos and photographs.
Police have said in least 124 suspects have already been arrested and 18 operators of boards on Telegram and other community media, including Cho, were detained following investigations into similar sexual crimes since late last year.
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