Actor Florian Teichtmeister, best known for his work in “Corsage”, pleaded guilty Tuesday to child pornography charges in a Vienna court.
He had played Emperor Franz-Joseph in the film about the free-spirited Austrian empress Sisi.
The actor was accused of procuring and possessing around 76,000 media files of minors.
Almost two-thirds of them — around 47,000 seized files — related to depictions of minors aged between seven and 14 years, with the remaining showing young people between 14 and 18.
The court heard that the 43-year-old Austrian actor had created collages, made slideshows and video sequences, altering a total of 34,600 files, which could expose him to a higher sentence.
Teichtmeister could face up to three years in prison.
The regional court was placed under tight security to avoid incidents with demonstrators, Austrian media reported.
Wearing a dark grey suit, Teichtmeister said he now understands the suffering inflicted on children and said that he should have asked for help earlier.
He partially obtained the files through the darknet.
Prosecutors had been investigating Teichtmeister since 2021.
“Corsage” was a box office hit, with actress Vicky Krieps, who played the tragic empress, taking the best performance prize at the Cannes film festival.
It was under consideration for an Academy Award nomination when reports surfaced in mid-January that Teichtmeister had been charged with possessing child pornography.
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