A convicted pedophile and child abuser in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt was sentenced to ten months in prison for possession of child pornography that he had downloaded from the German dark web forum, “Elysium.” The pedophile had a criminal record filled with prior sexual offenses, fraud, and theft.

“I am sorry for the way I feel,” the defendant told a judge at a hearing at the Köthen District Court. The defendant, a 37-year-old from Köthen, based his argument for a light sentence on his willingness to take medication that would lower his sex drive and the fact that he had no way to control his sexual attraction to children. His crimes came to light in 2017 after the German Federal Criminal Police Office raided the home of the owner of the dark web child exploitation forum, “Elysium.” Like the raid conducted by German law enforcement during the investigation into the owner of the German dark web forum known in English as “Germany in the DeepWeb,” the Elysium raid involved careful timing that allowed authorities to seize the server in an encrypted state. Since the Elysium takedown, forensic investigators have used the seized server in support of the investigations into of all Elysium staff members. After arresting all moderators and technical admins, authorities began taking down users identifiable through information revealed on Elysium and other dark web forums.

One of those Elysium members was the 37-year-old who stood before a judge at the Köthen District Court in early November. The German Federal Criminal Police Office had identified the man as a potential Elysium member in August 2017 and German authorities raided his apartment in Köthen shortly after confirming the suspicion. When authorities searched the apartment, they found a cell phone with 55 pictures and videos depicting adults sexually assaulting minors. Investigators later found an undisclosed number of pictures of a naked girl under the age of 12.

He later admitted that he had been using Elysium to access child abuse content. He also told the court that he had attended a so-called “child pornography swap meet” where he had the opportunity to access a hard drive filled with illegal content. He explained that he turned down the person’s offer because he “did not want to have anything to do with that.” The court was less than impressed by the convicted child abuser’s ability to not break the law concerning the reception and possession of illegal content. “I’m not a monster and would undo everything if I could,” the man told the judge. However, someone in the courtroom with insight into the man’s life and activities disagreed with the defendants statements regarding remorse and desire to change. That person, the probation officer who has been overseeing the pedophile since the last conviction, said that he had not seen the man demonstrate “a reliable, serious intention to dampen the instincts.” Furthermore, the probation officer said, the medication that the pedophile had mentioned to the judge in an attempt to avoid prison had already failed at preventing these so-called “urges.”

“Why did you stop taking the medication a long time ago?” the judge asked the defendant upon learning of the man’s prior experience with the medication. The man explained that it had lowered his drive for things outside of the scope of sex drive treatment, that he had various “health issues” which he only evasively described, that he had lied to himself about really wanting to change, and that he was different and less mature when he had stopped using the medication. He said that this time was different than the previous offense and that he would begin treatment immediately if the judge would spare him from prison.

The probation officer explained that no amount of treatment would prevent the man from offending again. All the defendant wanted from the judge was a sentence of one year on probation and any treatment the judge required. The prosecutor simply wanted one year in prison. At the end of the hearing, the judge sentenced the man to ten months in prison and told the sobbing defendant to remember that behind each picture is a living child suffering from child abuse.