Video of girls' abuse angers Colombians

September 1, 2006 – (AP) Police officers are being investigated for allegedly shooting a video of two girls being sexually abused by a man, evidence they intended to use against him in court but which instead sparked a public outcry after the tape was released to the media.

Local television stations on Thursday aired a brief part of the explicit video, in which a shirtless, middle-aged man is being handcuffed while growling into the camera that he had been entrapped. The alleged abuse of the two girls, both under the age of 11, took place in Momil, 330 miles northwest of Bogota, police said. It was not clear when the crime took place.

Three police officers and their commander who released the video were being investigated for their conduct, said Sgt. Alberto Cantillo, a spokesman for the national police. President Alvaro Uribe sharply criticized the officers' decision to not intervene while the minors were forced into sex, as well as their decision to then publicly release a tape of the crime. "It's one thing to collect evidence, but it's also important to protect the feelings and intimacy of these girls," Uribe told reporters Thursday.

From: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/C/COLOMBIA_POLICE_VIDEO?SITE=NCWIN&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT