Superior Tribunal de Justiça rules digital pornographic content constitutes sexual importunity

The Fifth Panel of the Superior Tribunal de Justiça (STJ) has unanimously ruled that sending pornographic content to a victim without consent constitutes the crime of sexual importunity, as defined in Article 215-A of the Brazilian Penal Code.

The decision establishes that the crime can be committed through technological means and does not require physical contact between the perpetrator and the victim. The ruling reverses a previous decision by the Court of Justice of Rio de Janeiro (TJRJ), which had acquitted a man of sexual importunity on the grounds that the crime required physical contact.

The case involved a man who was convicted of both stalking and sexual importunity after repeatedly pursuing victims and sending unauthorized sexual photos and videos via the internet. The STJ reinstated an initial sentence of four years and six months of imprisonment in a semi-open regime. Minister Joel Ilan Paciornik, the rapporteur, emphasized that the criminal type is characterized by the practice of a libidinous act without consent, even when conducted digitally.