The actor who plays Emperor Franz Joseph in a Sissi biopic was sentenced Tuesday to two years in suspended prison in Vienna for possession and production of child pornography, a case that shocked Austria.
Florian Teichtmeister, 43, has taken note of the decision and will be admitted to a specialized medical center.
“I sincerely and deeply regret my actions and want to apologize,” he had said earlier on the dais, dressed in an anthracite gray suit.
Thanks to therapy work that began two years ago when the investigation began, he says he now understands that “sexual violence is hidden behind every image.”
“About 76,000” documents
on the poster of Bodicethe actor was accused of obtaining “approximately 76,000 documents” online between February 2008 and August 2021, more than half of which concerned victims between the ages of 7 and 14.
He had modified many of them, making collages, slideshows, and video montages.
The actor had arrived very early at the regional court, subjected to heavy police surveillance to avoid incidents with protesters in favor of child protection, Austrian media reported.
Prosecutor Julia Kalmar had asked for a prison sentence “so as not to minimize such acts.” “Consumers determine the market, even if Florian Teichtmeister had not attacked a child,” she stressed.
Hardening of sentences
The movie “Corsage”, which will hit theaters in 2022, was filmed before “rumors emerged in the fall of 2021”, according to its production.
It then appeared at around 70 festivals and its actor, who had claimed “with conviction to be innocent”, was invited to premieres in both Austria and Germany.
She competed last year in the “Un Certain Regard” selection at the Cannes Film Festival, where the actress who plays Sissi, Vicky Krieps, received the award for best performance.
In the race for the Bafta British film awards, “Corsage” was overtaken by the scandal in mid-January, when the actor was accused and ultimately did not remain on the list of Oscar nominees for best foreign film.
In Austria, the prestigious national theater Burgtheater, of which the actor was a member, announced his dismissal, while the public audiovisual group ORF promised not to produce or broadcast any more projects with him.
The silence of cultural elites
The case sparked a controversy over the silence of the cultural elites of this Central European country of nine million people with a rich art scene.
In the process, the government has proposed a revision of the penal code, which is due to be adopted by Parliament this autumn, according to the Justice Ministry.
The penalties for this type of crime, considered “ridiculously weak” by the political class, will be increased, with a possible sentence of 10 years for the production of “a large number of representations” of child pornography.
Source: BFM TV
