BERLIN, Aug. 15 (Xinhua) -- German doctor Hartmut Hopp has been sentenced to five years in prison on Tuesday for his involvement in abuse at the Chilean Nazi pedophile commune of "Colonia Dignidad."
A previous sentence was thus upheld by the Krefeld court although the ruling is not final, and Hopp's lawyers have announced an appeal.
Colonia Dignidad was an enclave of German expatriates and Nazi fugitives which achieved international notoriety after reports of sexual abuse of children and minors, the rigid indoctrination of members, and slavery-like practices and torture over the course of three decades.
The physician Hopp acted as the right-hand man of Paul Schaefer, the former Wehrmacht-soldier and convicted pedophile who founded Colonia Dignidad in 1961.
Hopp was already convicted in Chile back in 2011 for crimes including complicity in the sexual abuse of 16 minors. However, he managed to flee to Germany before the final court ruling was imposed.
German and Chilean prosecutors jointly called for Hopp to serve his five-year prison sentence in the country of his origin a year ago, a request which has now been granted by the Krefeld court.
The decision was welcomed by the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights which described it as a long-overdue step "in the resolution of the crimes of Colonia Dignidad, in particular rape and sexual abuse of minors."
