The Canadian owner of Best Gore faces prison for ‘corrupting morals
BestGore.com is a vile website for movies of gang executions, girls being tortured, body components being maimed — anything to turn people’s stomachs. The content is revolting and a lot of it is real. But does Mark Marek, Greatest Gore’s 38-year-old owner, deserve to go to jail?
In May, Best Gore released a movie entitled”1 Lunatic 1 Icepick,” which revealed a gruesome 10-minute murder. “1 Lunatic 1 Ice Pick is certainly the sickest thing you’ll have seen in your whole life,” Marek wrote at the time.
The clip showed the actual murder of Lin Jun, a 33-year-old engineering student from China, completed by a psychopath who spread the video on the internet and then mailed the victim’s body parts to political parties. Murder trial proceedings for the supposed killer, a guy who goes by the name Luka Magnotta, will start in November.
Certainly the thing you’ll have seen in your life.
Meanwhile, authorities in Canada have decided to charge Marek. The site owner was accused of what seems like an Oscar Wilde-era offense:”corrupting morals,” a 1949 law which may carry a jail sentence of two years and possibly much greater.
The law says anyone who”makes, prints, publishes, distributes, circulates, or has in his possession with the intention of publication, distribution or circulation any obscene written matter, picture, model, phonograph record or whatever else” could be indicted for a crime. In accordance with case law, material becomes”disgusting” when it mixes sex with violence or degradation. The legislation also covers”disgusting items,””indecent shows,” and ads for abortion procedures.
“it is a really rare charge,” states Laurie Wood, Marek’s lawyer. “I can only find a half dozen instances.”
The last Canadian to be charged with corrupting morals was Remy Couture, a special effects artist that published gruesome staged murders on his website for a”fake diary of a serial killer.” In the long run, a jury ruled that the images and videos were not criminally obscene.
A conviction could have impacts for free speech in entertainment art, and journalism, Wood says. In her view,”1 Lunatic 1 Icepick” is much less graphic than the show”Spartacus.”
She says, the police are too late. “The offensive material is currently out there,” she states. “You are going to plug 1 hole and start another one. It can’t be stopped by you. It is the internet. It is throughout the world.”
But would a certainty set a harmful precedent? David Fewer, director of the Canadian Online Policy and Public Interest Clinic at the University of Ottawa, says no. Obscenity in Canada is well-defined, he says, and a conviction wouldn’t alter the standard. He anticipates Marek will have a difficult time arguing that the movie is not obscene. “This is just flat-out over the line,” Fewer says. “He’s not going to have a really fantastic defense.”
Out points out that Marek might have edited the movie or published images. “What interest does the people have in seeing that video?” He states. “There is no legitimate interest in seeing that top to base, and even if there’s, there’s no justification for placing that on the open net readily available to children.”
Best Gore lovers have a word for people with this type of mindset:”sheep” By contrast, the site’s readers refer to themselves as”aware individuals.” There is a sizable disclaimer when you go to Greatest Gore:”WARNING: Extremely Graphic and Explicit Content.” The site provides you a selection: enter to be subjected to”fact,” or click on an image of a pup to be redirected to imbecile.me, a parody site that is mostly advertisements.
Marek wasn’t able to answer questions by publication time, but The Verge had an email exchange with him when the movie came out in June of 2012, long before he had been charged with a crime. Greatest Gore was getting 3 million unique monthly subscribers, which jumped to half a million readers a day after the”1 Lunatic 1 Icepick” video came outhe explained at the moment.
Because they’re curious to find a beheading, many sheep come to Gore. Sheep just don’t care, although I have warnings all over the area. They believe that they can manage it, but then see that it’s not all pink and get offended. Because of this, I get dozens of death threats and hate mail every day.
The individuals that are aware, the others view the material to stay on top of all things. They are not afraid to confront it and would like to know the truth. They want the actual fact, the truth, the raw reality. Not, the and one presented by the media with an agenda played down.
Marek became interested in the gore genre when he saw photos of a hand mangled by a meat grinder on the prototypical gross-out site rotten.com. He doesn’t like the term”gore.” “I like to call it’fact,'” he states. He operates over a dozen websites in addition. When a judge banned him from using the internet except for his own defense, he argued that he needed to become online 18 hours every day to run his empire.
Actually, Luka Magnotta was identified by members of the Best Gore community as the guy. “We behaved in the public interest,” Marek told us in the time. “I posted the ‘1 Lunatic 1 Ice Pick’ movie in public interest, the community identified the perpetrator in public interest and in the public interest it was reported to the authorities.”
Under the legislation, Marek can be acquitted of corrupting morals”when the public good was served.” This situation has a lot of heat, however. Calls for Marek’s arrest started soon after the story came out. The movie of Lin’s terrible murder, including dismemberment, cannibalism, and necrophilia, remains circulating online and has prompted a reaction video meme. Lin’s parents are devastated and upset. “The most unbearable pain for me personally is the movie captured posted on the world wide web,” his mom, Zhigui Du, informed Yahoo News. “People watched it over and over. It’s like my son is being killed over and over.”
Mark asserts that he’s the victim of politically motivated persecution by people who can’t handle the reality, and that gore is a reflection of life. That line is not likely to go over well with a jury, and the obscenity definition is dependent upon community standards. The simple fact that”1 Lunatic 1 Icepick” depicts a true murder could make jurors less sympathetic even to the free speech argument.
Marek’s next court date is November 1st, although no trial date was established. The prosecution declined to comment on the case.
