The scandal with video cameras placed in laser hair removal salons in Burgas and naked clients filmed during procedures is growing. Recordings from a second beauty studio - this time in the “Meden Rudnik” complex, were discovered by injured clients on adult content sites. The salon's clients saw the cameras in the treatment rooms, but thought they were there for security purposes and to prevent thefts. But the video surveillance was of rooms where women were undressing naked, Nova TV reported.
Among the filmed visitors to the beauty salons are a number of public figures, underage girls and even a pregnant woman. And the distributed videos ended up on over 10 paid sites with pornographic content.
The Burgas District Prosecutor Maria Markova stated in “Hello, Bulgaria” that checks are being carried out urgently on the numerous reports received from individuals who have identified themselves as victims of what happened in this salon and the distribution of photos and footage on the Internet. She emphasized that a working meeting was held over the weekend with the district prosecutor, supervising prosecutors, as well as representatives of the Burgas Department of Internal Affairs.
“We received the information about the second salon with leaked footage last night. Today we are going to investigate whether there is a connection between the two studios and who is the person who generates the footage with intimate content”, Markova emphasized. She added that no one has been arrested in the case at the moment.
The prosecutor explained that the punishment provided by the legislator for distributing pornographic materials is imprisonment for up to one year or a fine of 1,000 to 3,000 leva. “In qualified cases, the punishment can reach up to two years of imprisonment and a fine of 1,000 to 3,000 leva. If it concerns photos of persons under the age of 16, the criminal liability is accordingly greater”, Markova pointed out.
Some of the leaked footage on the Internet also features minors and underage girls. The youngest girl is 15 years old, and the last uploaded footage from the laser hair removal salons is from January this year. NOVA's team managed to talk to the mother of one of the girls. She is a teacher and refused to comment, as the family is in shock and is considering with lawyers what action to take.
A wave of victimized women contacted the Ministry of Interior and the prosecutor's office after finding videos of themselves on more than a dozen paid sites with pornographic content - while naked during a cosmetic procedure. It turns out that there were two hidden cameras, in two different rooms of a laser hair removal studio in the center of Burgas, which we reported on a few days ago.
“After the broadcast of the report on NOVA, it turned out that there were hundreds of people affected. These recordings, made in this studio with hidden cameras - were distributed on dozens of porn sites, and not just in a Telegram group, as was initially known”, explained lawyer Rosen Diev, a defender of the victims.
Access to these sites turns out to be paid, and some even require user registration. The clips of various women were uploaded to the Internet from 2020 to November last year.
“All this leads to the conclusion that the activity that was carried out in the salon - in practice appears to be parallel and hidden behind the legal business of performing hair removal procedures. I assume that these clips of various people have been watched tens or hundreds of thousands of times. And everyone can do the basic math, if they are paid 30 euros - what amounts are involved in this illegal activity that the guilty parties have accumulated”, the lawyer points out.
Among those registered in the salon for hair removal are a judge, a prosecutor, several employees of the National Revenue Agency-Burgas, a municipal councilor, journalists, daughters of a regional governor, a police officer and public figures. Several of the girls are 16 and 17 years old, and after those recorded there is also a pregnant woman who is in shock from what she saw. A seconded team of the Personal Data Protection Commission has already drawn up an act of the beauty salon, and the Burgas District Prosecutor's Office and the regional departments of the Ministry of Internal Affairs continue to receive reports from victims. According to lawyers, the written informed consent offered to visitors to the salon is far from a justification for the illegally installed video surveillance cameras in the premises where people are naked.
„There is neither legal nor real logic to giving informed consent for filming undressing and naked people with a hidden camera. What is advocated as a defensive thesis in the public space – is absurd”, Diev is categorical.
Today, on the first working day of the week, dozens of women who booked an appointment for hair removal will ask for their money back and postpone their appointments for procedures. And the salon continues to operate.
“The Personal Data Protection Act is the other legal act that guarantees the inviolability of personal data. There is a European Regulation on the Protection of Personal Data, there is a text in the Constitution of the Republic of Bulgaria, there are texts in the Criminal Code, the violation of which is a crime”, the defense attorney recalls.
Interrogations in the case will continue today.