Child Pornography on the Internet: Jurisdiction Criteria

The prosecutor requested lack of jurisdiction for reasons of territorial competence. The judge of first instance understood that it had not been proven that someone other than the one who had uploaded the photograph to the tool called "Google + Photos" had access to the image or that the file had been shared; therefore, in the judge’s view, simple possession could not be ruled out without the intention of distributing the material, which would not constitute a crime. For this reason, the judge of first instance considered that until there was no certainty as to the objective nature of the offense, it was not appropriate to refuse jurisdiction.

The Court of Appeals ruled that for the determination of jurisdiction for reasons of territorial competence  all that is necessary is that the IP address from which the email account was accessed (located in the town of Godoy Cruz, province of Mendoza) through which the image had been uploaded with child pornography content to the Google application should be found. Hence, it is the Court with jurisdiction there that must continue the investigation in which, from the measures that are carried out whether or not there is a crime in the conduct investigated.

The Court of Appeals reinforces its grounds by quoting caselaw of the Argentine Supreme Court of Justice “Since criminal jurisdiction for reasons of territorial competence is established by taking into account the place where the crime has been committed, competence applies to the provincial court, where the internet connection was  made at the time of the facts, to intervene in this investigation” (Competencia CSJ 5685/2014/CSl, Sequiera, Nicolas s/ publicaciones, reprod. y/o distrib. obscenas, rta. 30/06/2015, CSJN).