Japanese football official sentenced for viewing child sexual abuse images

 Masanaga Kageyama, technical director for the Japan Football Association (JFA), [Jijipress / AFP) 

A senior Japan Football Association official has been sentenced to an 18-month suspended jail term in France after viewing images of child sexual abuse during a plane journey, a court official said Tuesday.

Masanaga Kageyama, the association's technical director, was arrested last week during a stopover at Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris on the way to Chile to attend the Under-20 World Cup, according to Le Parisien newspaper.

"The facts were discovered by the plane's flight crew, who raised the alarm after noticing that the convicted man was viewing child pornography images on the plane," the court prosecutor's office in Bobigny, north of Paris, told AFP.

The court sentenced the 58-year-old on Monday to a suspended jail term of 18 months and a fine of 5,000 euros ($5,830) for importing, possessing, recording or saving pornographic images of a minor under the age of 15.

His sentence includes a ban on working with minors for 10 years and a ban on returning to France for the next decade.

Kageyama will also be added to the French national sex offenders' register.

The football association (JFA) said in a statement his contract would be terminated with immediate effect.

"The JFA sees this as a deeply regrettable matter and offers sincere apologies for the concern and disruption caused," the association said.

In a news conference in Tokyo, JFA general secretary Kazuyuki Yukawa said: "Football is one part of society. Something like this cannot happen. We must all work together to ensure there is thorough compliance and guidance."

He said Kageyama had not yet returned to Japan and was believed to still be in France.

Le Parisien reported that flight attendants caught Kageyama looking at the images on his laptop in the business class cabin of an Air France flight.

He claimed the photos were art and had been generated by artificial intelligence.

The report said that during his court appearance he admitted viewing the images, that he did not realise it was illegal in France and that he was ashamed.

He was held in police custody over the weekend until his court appearance on Monday. He was released after the hearing.

Kageyama was responsible for implementing measures to strengthen Japan's football teams including the national team, as well as educating coaches and nurturing youth players.

He was a professional J-League footballer himself and also coached several J-League clubs. He had also managed Japan's Under-20 team.