Prosecutor in Misiones child pornography case says material contains images of newborns

The prosecutor investigating a former provincial deputy of Misiones and his brother for pedophilia and child pornography says shocking images were found in their possession, including photos of newborns, young children and teenagers.

Daniela Dupuy, prosecutor for cybercrime and technology, praised the “excellent work” that allowed Argentina’s judiciary to continue with the arrest of former provincial deputy Germán Kiczka and his brother Sebastián Kiczka, who were captured by police last week after being on the run for six days.

Speaking to the press about the investigation, Dupuy said in comments reported by the Noticias Argentinas news agency that equipment seized during searches of properties linked to the Kiczka brothers had yielded shocking images.

The prosecutor said the former lawmaker and his brother were “contradictory” in court due to the abundance of seized evidence.

Both brothers are accused of possessing and distributing material describing child sexual abuse. However, the Public Prosecution Service is still investigating whether they were involved in compiling the files.

“We are talking about a person in Misiones, but behind this legislator is an international organization that deals with the sexual exploitation of children and teenagers,” said Dupy, head of a department in the Buenos Aires city prosecutor’s office that specializes in cybercrime.

The investigation, which began in January after a warning from the US organization ICMEC (International Centre for Missing and Exploited Children), uncovered more than 600 files involving child sexual abuse, including images of newborn babies, children and teenagers.

“I’m talking about children from 0 to 13 years old, but also about others between 13 and 18 years old,” said Dupy.

“When we talk about child sexual exploitation, I think the public can’t grasp what those words mean. We see adults sexually abusing children or teenagers,” she said in this case.

City prosecutors have been working with Misiones courts on the case. Dupuy said investigators now had to analyze each video to determine whether Germán and Sebastián were merely consumers of the material or whether they helped produce it.

Meanwhile, while the investigation is still ongoing, the judge overseeing the case has ordered a search of a property owned by provincial MP Pedro Puerta, who comes from the Activar party to which Germán Kiczka belonged.

Puerta, the son of former Misiones governor and former President Ramón Puerta, is said to have run a social club and a cigarette factory at the site.

Judge Miguel Ángel Faria requested the search after learning that Germán Kiczka had previously been at the Bar Social premises, owned by Ramón Puerta’s son. The premises house a discotheque and a cigarette factory.

Pedro Puerta, who has distanced himself from the investigation and his former party colleague since the allegations were made public, said in comments to local media that the expelled provincial lawmaker was only making “order sales” at his company Cigarrillos Misioneros and that “he was not an employee of the factory.”

– TIMES/AFTER