Swedish newspaper TheLocal (known for their offbeat journalism) reports that a Swedish manga translator has been fined by the district court of Uppsala Sweden for the possession of 51 images that the court determined were child pornography under Sweden’s current laws.
The translator, who was unnamed in the report, stated his surprise on the ruling handed down on June 30th, as the explanation he gave centered on having to keep up with the latest developments from Japan. The judge presiding over the case, Nils Palbrant made the following statements after the fine was handed down by the district court:
“There’s a clear conflict between freedom of speech on the one hand and general regulations regarding children’s rights on the other.” “It was however our view that the protective aspect weighed more heavily when taking into account the intentions of the legislator. The aim of the law, as described in the preliminary work that led to its creation, is not just to protect individual children but children in general.”
The judge has also stated that he would welcome a second opinion on the decision from the appellate court, because of the nature of the case to set legal precedent.
The translator’s lawyer, Lief Silbersky has also weighed in stating surprise at the ruling and lodging an appeal for his client stating, “It goes against all common sense. These are just drawings; no children have been harmed.”
Local tabloids such as Expressen have also weighed in on the issue with their own statements in support of the translator:
“However unpleasant and nasty a work of fiction might be, and whatever one thinks about Japanese porn involving cartoon children, there is actually no victim here. The children in the Uppland man’s manga comics were not molested since they were characters in a comic.”
To add another layer to the case, anonymous sources connected to the translator have responded to the report, stating that the translator was involved in a custody battle with his former partner over their infant daughter and that she falsely claimed sexual abuse to claim full custody over the couple’s daughter after the partner’s mother moved away, which led to the local police searching the translators belongings on the second allegation of child abuse.
Finding no evidence of abuse both times, the authorities instead charged him with the child pornography possession charge due to his manga collection after a search and investigation, which led to the subsequent fine of 25,000 SEK or $3000 USD levied on June 30th.
[via Ramen Para Dos]
No Responses to “Manga Translator Fined by Swedish Authorities for Alleged Lolicon Possession”