Uijeongbu Criminal Attorney | Client Who Captured an Image of the Other Party in Underwear During a Video Call, ‘Not Guilty’

The account the client gave was as follows.

The client and the partner often had video calls when the partner had been drinking.

In the course of those calls, the client captured the images in order to look at the partner longer, did not distribute them to anyone, and kept them only on the client's own phone.

However, when the partner found a screenshot capturing the partner in underwear during a video call, the partner reported the client to the police.

The client explained that they had always asked the partner's permission whenever they wanted to capture an image during a video call, and that the partner simply could not remember because of being intoxicated, and the client requested assistance from Daeryun.

▣ Act on Special Cases concerning the Punishment of Sexual Crimes, Article 14 (Filming Using a Camera, etc.)

① A person who, using a camera or any other device with a similar function, films the body of another person that may cause sexual desire or shame against the will of the person filmed shall be punished by imprisonment for not more than 7 years or a fine of not more than 50 million won.

② A person who distributes, sells, leases, provides, or publicly exhibits or screens the filmed material or its copies under paragraph (1) (including copies of copies; hereinafter the same in this Article) (hereinafter “distribution, etc.”), or a person who, even where the filming under paragraph (1) was not against the will of the person filmed at the time of filming (including a case of filming one's own body), subsequently engages in distribution, etc. of the filmed material or its copies against the will of the person filmed, shall be punished by imprisonment for not more than 7 years or a fine of not more than 50 million won.

③ A person who, for profit, commits the offense under paragraph (2) against the will of the person filmed by using an information and communications network under Article 2 (1) 1 of the 「Act on Promotion of Information and Communications Network Utilization and Information Protection, etc.」 (hereinafter “information and communications network”) shall be punished by imprisonment for a definite term of not less than 3 years.

④ A person who possesses, purchases, stores, or views the filmed material or its copies under paragraph (1) or (2) shall be punished by imprisonment for not more than 3 years or a fine of not more than 30 million won.

⑤ If the offenses under paragraphs (1) through (3) are committed habitually, the punishment prescribed for the respective offense shall be aggravated by up to one half.

When capturing images of the partner during video calls, the client always asked, “May I capture this?” and obtained permission.

Each time, the partner permitted the capture and even sent photographs of the partner in underwear directly.

The attorney rebutted that the reason the partner stated in the partner's statement that no permission had been sought was that the partner was always intoxicated during the video calls.

Accordingly, the attorney argued that this was not an act ‘against the will of the person filmed’ as provided by law.

The client had kept the captured photographs solely in the client's own phone album and had never shown them to anyone or distributed them.

Accordingly, the attorney argued that there was no act of ‘distribution against the will of the person filmed’ as provided by the relevant statute.

For the offense of possessing material filmed using a camera to be committed, both the condition “against the will of the person filmed” and the condition “causing sexual desire or shame” must be satisfied, exactly as the wording provides.

However, if the person filmed voluntarily consented, the charge cannot be applied regardless of the degree or content.

For that reason, proving that the other party consented is important in order to resolve an unjust accusation and obtain a not-guilty verdict.

If you need help with such a matter, please come to a Uijeongbu criminal attorney at any time and request assistance.