By Peter Omopo
September 1, 2025
A Danish court on Monday sentenced former government minister Henrik Sass Larsen to four months in prison after finding him guilty of possessing thousands of images and videos of child sexual abuse.
Larsen, 59, a former industry minister and senior figure in the Social Democratic Party, admitted having more than 6,000 photographs and 2,000 videos on his computer. However, he told the court he downloaded the material in an attempt to trace his own childhood abusers.
During the trial, Larsen testified that he had received links in 2018 and 2020 to videos allegedly showing him being abused at the age of three, as well as another clip depicting the rape of a young girl in his presence. He said the videos disappeared after viewing them and expressed regret for not reporting them to the police.
Prosecutor Maria Cingari welcomed the judgment but stressed that the law is clear.
“You should never be in possession of child pornography, no matter the reason,” she said, adding it was “sad that someone who managed to make the most out of their life despite a bad start finds himself in such a situation.”
The court dismissed a separate charge accusing Larsen of owning a child sex doll. His lawyer, Berit Ernst, said an appeal was under consideration.
The scandal, which erupted in March, led to Larsen’s expulsion from the Social Democratic Party. At the time, Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen described the revelations as shocking.
