Japanese Soccer Executive Convicted for Accessing Child Exploitation Content on Plane
A prominent official from the Japan Football Association has received an 18-month suspended prison sentence in the French court system after getting discovered looking at content that depict minors being abused while traveling on an aircraft.
Technical director Masanaga Kageyama was arrested last week during a transit at Paris's main airport, according to court documents, which added that he subsequently confessed to viewing the images, stating he was unaware it was illegal in France.
He was believed to have been headed for the Youth World Cup in Chile.
The soccer organization said that his employment agreement would be canceled with immediate action, adding that the event was "unacceptable behavior to the soccer community".
Legal Proceedings
The prosecution informed journalists that the airline personnel had alerted authorities after they spotted Kageyama viewing the pornographic images on the flight.
He had been operating his computer in a business class cabin of an commercial aircraft, and when approached he had claimed that the pictures were "art" and computer-generated, according to official statements.
Verdict
On Monday, the legal authorities sentenced the man in his late fifties to a suspended prison sentence and a monetary sanction of €5,000 - along with a 10-year ban on employment involving youth or entering the country.
Institutional Reaction
In a announcement, the governing body expressed regret for the "distress" the event had created.
"This event is unacceptable conduct to the sports industry," governing body head declared. "Although we have been working on this concern, we will use this incident as an opportunity to reassess the governance and regulatory framework of the sports community and to thoroughly strengthen and better it."
Professional Background
Kageyama is a former professional footballer who stopped competing in the mid-1990s before taking on the role of a representative to national soccer teams. He also worked coaching teams in Macau and the Southeast Asian nation.
