The Rome Prosecutor's Office is widening its investigation into the private video illegally captured from the surveillance system at the Rome home of Stefano De Martino's girlfriend.
The Piazzale Clodio prosecutors are also charging the crime of revenge porn in the proceedings, currently against unknown persons, as well as unauthorized access to a computer system. This new charge brings the case to the attention of the magistrates' group dealing with gender-related crimes and represents a significant turning point in the investigation, as Law No. 69 of 2019, known as the Red Code, targets those who share videos that end up on various online platforms.
The investigators' efforts are therefore focused not only on those who physically "extracted" the video and then published it online, but also on the many users who essentially shared it, leaving hundreds of comments in chat rooms or forums.
The proceedings were initiated after two complaints were filed by the TV host at the beginning of last month. On August 9th, a message from one of his followers appeared on De Martino's cell phone: "Stefano, intimate videos of you and your girlfriend are circulating online."
At that moment, the "Affari tuoi" host realized someone had violated his privacy. They had managed to get their hands on the CCTV footage of his girlfriend's home and posted it online. The next day, De Martino and his girlfriend—who were on the Costa Smeralda for a short vacation—went to the Porto Cervo police station to report the incident. This was an attempt to block the spread of the videos, which quickly ended up on numerous platforms, easily accessible by thousands of users.
The intervention of the Italian Data Protection Authority—which came within hours of the video's existence becoming known—stopped its dissemination, making the footage inaccessible even though it had already been downloaded by some users and posted on instant messaging chat programs. On August 14, the two victims—represented by lawyers Lorenzo Contrada and Angelo and Sergio Pisani— filed a second complaint to the judicial authorities. In addition to the Rome prosecutor's office, the Tempio Pausania prosecutor's office is also investigating the case, which is prosecuting for the unlawful dissemination of sexually explicit images or videos.
(Unioneonline)