Azov Films Prosecutions

Background

Azov Films was based in Toronto, Canada, and specialized in selling barely-legal visual material mostly featuring boys participating in nudist gym and camp sports. The films were apparently produced in Eastern Europe. The legality of the material differed from country to country, but was widely believed to be well established in the major market, the U.S.A., which has historically tolerated depictions of underage nudity provided there is no sexual content.

However, the company's website (www.azovfilms.com) closed on or about May 1, 2011, apparently as a result of a police raid according to some US authorities, although there is no corroboration of this from Canadian authorities or the Canadian press. These same US authorities have obtained business records from Azov Films including customer e-mail and postal mail addresses and transaction receipts with customer credit card information.

Starting in 2012, some US customers of Azov Films have been arrested and charged with receipt and possession of child pornography: some of the nude visual material has been construed as illegal by US Law Enforcement Officers, including agents of the United States Postal Inspection Service. So far, all of the prosecutions are based on receipt by postal mail of Azov DVDs.

A list of all the English titles of the Azov Films known to date appears on the French Boywiki. [1]

Defendants

(This may be an incomplete list. All of these individuals should be presumed innocent until proven guilty. Azov Films is not yet explicitly cited in the official documentation of some of these cases, but there is strong circumstantial evidence that the alleged pornographic material was their product.)

• Joseph Monroe Wilson (Teacher) of Dallas, Georgia, now of Spartanburg, South Carolina --- Press Release [2] ---

U.S. District Court Northern District of Georgia (Rome) --- CRIMINAL DOCKET CASE #: 4:12-cr-00023-RLV-WEJ-1 --- Lead Defense Attorney: Howard Jay Manchel [3]

• Richard Keller, M.D. of Andover, Massachusetts ---Court Complaint [4]

• William S. Thomas (Nurse) of Andover, Massachusetts --- News Article [5] --- United States District Court

District of Massachusetts (Boston) --- CRIMINAL DOCKET CASE #: 1:12-mj-07204-JCB-1 --- Defense Attorney: Philip G. Cormier [6]

• Edward F. Cousens of Holbrook, Massachusetts --- News Article [7]

• Gerald Deneault of Mansfield, Massachusetts ---News Article [8]

• Gerald Silva (State Probation Officer) of Coventry, Rhode Island ---News Article [9] --- Press Release [10]

• Sgt. Phillip Woolery (Grapevine Police Department) of Crowley, Texas --- News Article + link to Complaint [11]

• Harry Hopper of Tecumseh, Oklahoma --- News Article [12]

• Gary Jefferson Byrd of Opelousas, Louisiana --- News Article [13]

• Joseph Finocchiaro of Bath, Maine --- Court Complaint Part 1 [14]--- Court Complaint Part 2 [15] --- News Article [16]

• Loyd Jeffrey Hitt of Center Point, Alabama --- News Article [17]

• Nicholas G. Sysock (High School Vice Principal) of Carteret, New Jersey --- News Article [18] --- News Article [19]

• John Charles Mason (Youth Services Counselor) of Conroe, Texas --- News Article [20] --- News Article [21]

Updates

• Azov Round Up - with details --- BoyChat post dated October 21, 2012 [22]

External Links

• Nude Art Controversies Blog [23]

• The Azov Films mass-state-rape: details of Dr. Richard Keller and other arrestees (a work in progress) [24]