Court: "Possession of large amounts of obscene materials and distribution"
Sentenced to 2 years 6 months in prison with 3 years probation
A man in his 20s who was charged with illegally downloading and distributing thousands of obscene videos received a suspended sentence.
On the 3rd, the Criminal Division 1 of Cheonan Branch, Daejeon District Court (Presiding Judge Jeon Gyeong-ho) sentenced Mr. A (27), who was tried for violating the Act on the Protection of Children and Juveniles from Sexual Abuse (production and distribution of sexual exploitation materials, etc.), to 2 years and 6 months in prison with a 3-year suspension. The court also ordered Mr. A to perform 80 hours of community service, attend 40 hours of sexual violence treatment programs, and imposed a 5-year employment restriction at institutions related to children, adolescents, and persons with disabilities.
Mr. A is accused of downloading and possessing over 4,200 obscene videos, including child and adolescent sexual exploitation materials, using a file-sharing program at his home from February to July last year, and distributing them. It was investigated that despite having downloaded 1,000 videos and being subjected to a police search and seizure, Mr. A downloaded and possessed an additional 3,200 videos in the same manner just two weeks later.
The court stated, "Despite being searched and seized once by the police, he repeated the crime without any sense of guilt, showing a disregard for the legal system," and added, "The amount of obscene materials possessed is large, and distributing them to many people using torrents makes the nature of the crime serious."
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