Students of the IPN Digital Justice Assembly hold a handkerchief with the inscription #LeyOlimpia.Digital Justice Assembly
The Mexico City Attorney General’s Office (FGJCDMX) has announced that it is investigating the accusation against Diego “N”, a student of the Higher School of Commerce and Administration (ESCA), who allegedly took photos from social networks of his classmates and personal data other students and would have modified them with artificial intelligence to sell them as explicit content over the Internet.
According to other groups supporting the students with the complaint, this has become known through official channelsMore than 20,000 photos, altered without the victims’ consent, were found on the defendant’s tablet and distributed and sold through private groups on Telegram, where the content was offered to other students. The prosecutor’s office agreed that all interviews with victims will be carried out with legal and psychological advice, and that the cyber police of the investigative unit will additionally carry out a comprehensive review of the images found on mobile devices of the people under investigation.
According to the complaint published on Instagram by the Digital Assembly of Justice of the National Polytechnic Institute (IPN), a study house of which ESCA is a part, eight people affected by this fact submitted their complaint on October 6th and 7th the court has an office of the public prosecutor. On the same Friday the 6th, the defendant will be placed at the disposal of the Ministry of State after notification of the study center. He remained detained over the weekend and on Monday prosecutors decided not to prosecute him and released him, an IPN authority said. Those affected said they felt re-victimized by the authorities because the defendant was released despite the victims’ statements and the fact that there was evidence on the device.
In this regard, the Public Prosecutor’s Office for Investigation of Sexual Crimes was ordered to immediately provide the young women with protective measures and to notify the Internal Affairs Department “to determine whether any irregularities occurred in the initial psychological care of the victims.” ”, reports the FGJCDMX in a statement.
“We demand the responsibility of the academic authorities of our IPN and the reparation of damages by all political, social, legal, economic, material and academic means, as well as in matters of physical and mental health, to those affected, in view of the negligence with.” “that the victims were handled, which led to a change in the chain of custody of evidence, favoring the possible attacker in the investigation and compromising due process,” reads part of the statement released by the Digital Assembly of Justice of the IPN.
For its part, the IPN reiterates that from the moment of the complaint psychological support was provided and the victims were physically and legally protected. The same authority also said that a work table has been installed at ESCA in case another student wants to file a complaint and that the polytechnic has asked the director of the School of Commerce to initiate an internal procedure to determine the responsibilities of the accused determine. and its sanctions, which can range from a warning to exclusion.
“The boy is no longer a student at the polytechnic from the start. He has lost his rights while subject to this Honor Commission. As in any trial, he will be able to bring to bear the resources he deems in his favor, defend himself and from there a decision will be made,” specifies the authority.
According to the authorities responsible for the case, it has been agreed to hold a follow-up meeting on the investigation, which will take place at the premises of the General Coordination of Investigation of Gender Crimes and Victim Care. The same statement from the Public Prosecutor’s Office shows that the IPN lawyers have indicated that the protection measures appropriate to the institute will be granted.
“We demand from all IPN authorities a commitment not to repeat negligent acts. When sexual intimacy is violated, not only are women’s privacy and human rights compromised in the digital space, but this sexual violence also produces psychological and physical effects, often affecting academic development, mobility and free development of personality, security internally and externally hampering the school’s classrooms and what could even be life-threatening,” the statement continued from the students demanding justice.
Since January 2020, the city’s criminal code and the law on women’s access to a life free from violence have been reformed in the so-called Olimpia Law to allow the distribution of images with sexual content as a criminal offense. without the consent of the person involved. The Olimpia Law provides for sanctions of three to six years in prison for those who commit these acts.
The first result of this reform came in Mexico City in 2021 with the first arrest of a man for disseminating intimate photos of women. The legislation is popularly known for Olimpia Coral Melo, a woman from Puebla who spearheaded the reforms after becoming a victim of digital violence. When she was 18, her then-boyfriend shared a video on social media in which they appeared to be having sexual relations.
The protests by IPN students continued for several days in front of the premises of Channel Once, a media outlet of the same institute, where have demanded to Arturo Reyes Sandoval, Director of the National Polytechnic Institute, a public apology to all women, staff, students and all women who use the IPN facilities.
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