According to Al Jazeera, Mr. Masanaga Kageyama - Technical Director of the Japan Football Association (JFA) has just been sentenced to 18 months in prison with a suspended sentence by the Bobigny Criminal Court (France) for watching and storing child-pornography content.
The incident occurred on October 2 on an Air France flight from Japan to Paris (France). While en route to Chile to participate in the U20 World Cup, Mr. Kageyama was discovered by his host watching porous images on his tablet right in the business classroom.
When the plane landed at Charles de Gaulle airport, he was immediately arrested by French police.
At the trial on October 6, Mr. Kageyama was accused of importing, storing and owning pornography of children under 15 years old. During the investigation, the police seized a total of 1,621 images on his personal device, including photos created by artificial intelligence and real people.
In his defense, Mr. Kageyama said that he was just curious and did not know that this behavior violated French law. He cited that in Japan, if it is only used for personal purposes, it will not be punished.
In addition, this person also believes that this is "art" or a "virtual" product, not related to real people. However, the court dismissed these arguments and based them on clear evidence from his device.
Although the prosecutor proposed a 2-year prison sentence, the court decided to impose an 18-month suspended sentence, and applied additional measures such as a 10-year ban on entry into France, a ban on working related to children during the same period, and a list of sex offenders.
Immediately afterwards, the JFA issued a statement expressing its regret and announcing the immediate termination of the contract with Mr. Kageyama.
