Spanish MPs fined for porn surfing

The deputies got the maximum fine under party rules

Three members of Spain's governing party have been fined after getting caught looking at pornographic pictures during a debate on domestic violence in Madrid's regional parliament.

The men were caught out by journalists in the parliament chamber as they looked at pornographic emails.

A spokesman for the right-wing Popular Party (PP) said they had been fined between 450 and 900 euros for breaching the party's internal regulations.

One of the three, Miguel Angel Perez-Huysmans, has also tendered his resignation as president of the PP's youth movement, the Spanish news agency Efe reported.

He was fined 900 euros, while the other two, Manuel Troitino and Coloman Trabado, were fined 450 euros.

The punishments were the toughest allowed under the party's rules, according to Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar.

Porn popularity

Female MPs criticised the men for their actions, describing them as "repugnant and disgusting".

They also singled out Mr Perez-Huysmans for particular scorn, describing him as acting "like a pre-pubescent schoolboy", the UK's Daily Telegraph newspaper reported.

Others said the incident had been blown out of proportion, noting that Spanish MPs often have little to do during parliamentary debates, where votes are cast by party groups, not individual MPs.

Spain has the greatest proportion of visitors to adult sites in Europe, with 40% of home internet users looking at porn, according to a survey of web users carried out last year by internet monitoring company NetValue.