TORONTO – The owner of a website that posted the infamous Luka Magnotta video is facing charges under the “corrupting morals” section of Canada’s Criminal Code , a seldom-used law, according to legal experts.
Mark Marek, owner of the website called Best Gore that posted the infamous Magnotta video more than a year ago, was arrested and charged Wednesday.
“I’ve never heard of that charge before. I know talking to the Crowns, they hadn’t heard of that charge. I believe that this may be the first time it’s been laid in Edmonton, ” Edmonton Police Staff Sgt. Bill Clark told reporters Wednesday.
READ MORE: Edmonton gore site owner charged in Magnotta video investigation released on bail
The charges stem from a video that was posted on the website allegedly showing the murder of Jun Lin, whose severed body parts were mailed to political offices in Ottawa and to schools in Vancouver.
Luka Rocco Magnotta was charged with first-degree murder in the brutal slaying. His trial is scheduled to begin in Montreal in September 2014.
What does the law say?
Section 163 of the Criminal Code pertains to an individual who “makes, prints, publishes, distributes, circulates, or has in his possession for the purpose of publication, distribution or circulation any obscene written matter, picture, model.”
Toronto criminal lawyer Jonathan Rosenthal says that the section is an “old-fashioned section of Canada’s law,” that is rarely used.
“It’s a law that is used for offenses where it’s not pornography, but you know it’s wrong,” said Rosenthal. “Cases involving this law would be very difficult to prosecute as you have to prove intent.”
Rosenthal said the case involving Marek will be hard to prosecute as the Crown attorney will have to have physical evidence that proves Marek was the one who posted the video and not a third party.
A history of corrupting morals
The “corrupting morals” law dates back to 1948 when Canada began a crackdown on the unlikeliest of artistic mediums, the comic book.
Writer John Bell, author of The History of Comic Books in English Canada details how the murder of a man would lead to a war on comic books
In November 1948, two boys from British Columbia aged 13 and 11, stole a rifle and shot at a passing car, fatally wounding one of the passengers.
E. Davie Fulton, the Kamloops Member of Parliament at the time, introduced a private member’s bill to amend the country’s obscenity laws after it was discovered both boys were avid readers of crime comics.
In 2012, a charge of corrupting morals was brought against Quebec special effects artist Remy Couture.
The charge revolved around his website, Inner Depravity, which featured hundreds of images and a pair of videos depicting gruesome murder, torture, assaults and even necrophilia.
Couture testified before a jury trial in Quebec Superior Court that the website was his own creation of horror and not the pornography the Crown was alleging.
A seven-woman, five-man jury found Couture not guilty.
– With files from the Canadian Press
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