Although there could be thirty people affected, eleven minors have already filed a complaint, accompanied by their family, at the Almendralejo Police Station (Badajoz) in the case of the photos with their faces manipulated with an artificial intelligence application where they supposedly appear naked in the body of another woman through photomontages.
This figure has been advanced by the Government delegate in Extremadura, Francisco Mendoza, who has specified that neither the number of victims nor the alleged perpetrators of the manipulation has yet been determined. In fact, EL MUNDO has confirmed that this afternoon two other families intend to join these complaints, which must be made individually and not collectively, as was the intention of some parents yesterday.
In statements to the media in Almendralejo, Mendoza reported that the investigation is still open and that, probably, the first documentation will be sent in the next few hours to the Juvenile Prosecutor’s Office. In addition, she has pointed out that some of the images of the girls have been located on mobile phones and some of the participants in that manipulation have been identified.
In any case, the Government delegate has asked for “prudence” and “responsibility”, both from the families and the media, as this is a case in which minors are involved and their privacy must be preserved. For this same reason, he did not want to detail the number of minors involved in this case and the municipalities of origin, which could also be some from the Tierra de Barros region.
Regarding whether the images have been able to leave the WhatsApp group circuit, Mendoza has pointed out that the investigation takes more time to confirm it, although the first statements of those affected, as this newspaper has learned, point in that direction: “Now “It will be seen if, in fact, some of the participants in that WhatsApp circle have transmitted it through any other channel,” he said in this regard.
Finally, he has encouraged those who are aware that a crime has been committed, invites the families and any other person who may know it to report it; and has also invited “anyone who has knowledge of the crime” to report it to the Security Forces and Bodies or the judicial bodies that have to investigate the matter.”
“Any other complaint will possibly hinder the investigation and possibly also affect in some way, indirectly, the image of the minors that they want to preserve,” concluded the delegate, who made these statements to questions from the media on the occasion of their participation in Almendralejo in the Local Security Board on the occasion of the start of the 2023 agricultural campaigns.
For his part, the mayor of Almendralejo, José María Ramírez, has lamented that “the issue is serious” and that “although possibly the intention was to start as a joke”, it was not.
“It is a warning of things that are going to happen, and we must be clear that this is one more episode of gender violence, underage women are being attacked,” the mayor warned, according to Efe.
For this reason, he has insisted on the need to work on awareness programs, also in educational centers. According to the mayor, this case is a “drama” for both the parents of the girls and the boys who have committed the acts.
On the other hand, the Government of Extremadura has offered the victims of photos of minors with Artificial Intelligence in the Almendralejo area and their families “all the resources that the administration has at its disposal” to confront what happened.
This was stated by the spokesperson for the Board, Victoria Bazaga, who on behalf of the regional Executive has once again rejected and condemned “everything that happened”, while considering that we must be “very cautious” in what is Talk about it when you find minors among those affected.
Bazaga recalled that the Administration “puts everything it has” to help the victims and their families, and that there are two projects for this.
One, according to what has been said, is the Pilar Project, which is an agreement that exists between the College of Psychologists of Extremadura and the Board to address this type of cases of “child gender violence” in the place where the children are, in such a way that it is the psychologists who travel to attend to these.
And, on the other hand, he recalled that there is the Márgenes y Vínculos Foundation, which specializes in this “type of unfortunate events of gender violence in children.”
