Prosecution: Any representation of underage genitals is illegal

On Monday, the Quebec City courthouse sentenced a 54-year-old former private security guard to 60 days in prison for watching what was described as "Japanese child-porn cartoons known as hentai ." Regis Tremblay acknowledged watching the material while manning the ammunition depot at the Canadian Force Base Valcartier in January 2012. He cited "curiosity" as the reason.

The prosecution said that investigators recovered 210 " hentai " files from a hard drive, as well as 501 web addresses from Tremblay's browser history. Crown prosecutor Nathalie Leroux argued, "Whether it's a cartoon image or a photograph, any representation of underage people's genitals is illegal under the Criminal Code."

Quebec court judge Bernard Lemieux sentenced Tremblay to 60 days in prison. As a result of his conviction, Tremblay must register as a sex offender for 10 years.

An Edmonton man was arrested in 2005 for attempting to import books containing sexually explicit manga featuring adults having sex with children, including depictions of "tied-up children and infants in diapers." In 2010, American citizen Ryan Matheson was arrested by Canadian authorities at the U.S.-Canada border due to contents saved in his laptop computer. After the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund contributed to Matheson's defense, all criminal charges were dropped.

Source: Canoe.ca