A 12 year-old Russian girl in St. Petersburg killed herself Wednesday, jumping from her block of flats after her parents discovered she’d been watching online pornography.
The girl, whose first name was given by police as Daria, reportedly entered into a heated argument with her parents after they discovered she had been surfing porn web sites on her personal computer.
Immediately after the exchange, local police said she jumped to her death from her 14th floor flat.
‘After the death of the adolescent her parents looked through her texts and found several messages from the girl’s friends. The content was of quite an obscene nature,’ a source from local law enforcement officials told LifeNews.
News of the incident sparked a fierce debate among Russian internet users.
Some blamed the parents saying, ‘I can only imagine what they might have told the poor girl.’
‘They should have spoken with her calmly. This is such a delicate situation,’ another user wrote.
Others said that the distribution of porn online should be stopped or restricted.
‘We’re reaping the fruits of overindulgence. Restricted access to web sites with questionable content needs to be guaranteed,’ one user commented.
In 2012, Russia adopted harsh laws on the distribution of ‘harmful material’ – including porn – to minors.
Government authorities in Moscow say the goal is to protect minors from web sites that feature explicit sexual content, details about how to commit suicide, drug use and sites that solicit children for pornography.
If the websites themselves cannot be shut down, internet service providers (ISPs) and web hosting companies can be forced to block access to the offending material.