‘Revenge porn’ bill discussed at House committee

A discussion around the possible introduction of legislation to criminalise the non-consensual use of personal images with erotic or sexual content, commonly referred to as revenge porn, took place on Wednesday during a House legal committee meeting.

Following the meeting, Akel MP Giorgos Koukoumas said that the article-by-article debate on his party’s bill proposal to establish separate and stricter legislation on revenge porn has just started and will continue over the next committee meetings.

The Akel MP underlined that revenge porn “constitutes a crime with devastating ethical, personal, professional, and psychological consequences for the victim”.

“It is not unjustly referred to as ‘cyber rape,’” he said.

He also expressed satisfaction as, according to him, “there is agreement on the bill’s philosophy and orientation from the justice ministry, the Bar Association, as well as other stakeholders involved in previous discussions”.

“The bill proposal we are submitting significantly strengthens the current framework so that the legal obligation of internet service providers to promptly remove such material from their websites is reinforced,” Koukoumas said.

He explained that another differentiation is made so that the proof of intention to humiliate the victim by the perpetrator is not required.

“This is very significant because in most cases the perpetrators claim their actions are the result of jokes,” he explained.

Finally, he noted that the bill proposal provides protection for all victims, regardless of gender, adding that in cases where the material is not real, but has been digitally manipulated in such a way as to realistically depict a person participating in sexual acts, should also be covered.