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RIGA, June 22 (Xinhua) -- A court in Riga on Wednesday handed down a 25-year prison term to a pedophile who was arrested last August after months of a high-profile manhunt.
The defendant, who was tried for a series of sexual assaults on underage girls in Riga's residential neighborhoods of Imanta and Zolitude, arrived in Riga City Kurzeme District Court with his face covered with a white garment.
His lawyer Antons Drebnieks told reporters ahead of the court hearing that his client had pleaded guilty to all six counts of sexual assault charges. The lawyer also revealed that the pedophile suspect himself had suffered sexual abuse in his youth, but that his abuser was not a family member.
Prosecutor Agris Skradailis asked the judge to sentence the defendant to 20 years behind bars, and the defense lawyer asked to reduce the sentence to 17 years, considering the guilty plea and that the defendant had shown sincere remorse and apologized to his victims.
The judge, however, sentenced the man to 25 years in prison and also ordered him to pay more than 73,000 euros (82,440 U.S. dollars) in compensation.
According to media reports, the so-called Imanta pedophile is a jobless man with basic education who has been residing in the small town of Jaunjelgava in southern Latvia. Enditem
