PHNOM PENH, Feb. 8 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia's Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Friday convicted a French national of child sex purchase and sentenced him to 18 months in jail, according to a verdict announced by Judge Chea Sokheang.
The convict, 58-year-old Marcel Morin, was found guilty of the sexual abuse of two underage boys in 2007 and was arrested on Feb. 18 last year.
The court also ordered him to pay 750 U.S. dollars and 1,500 U. S. dollars compensation to each of the victims.
Morin is currently serving a one year prison term in Siem Reap on the same charge for the assault of five minors, aged 7 to 13 years.
NGO Action Pour Les Enfants (APLE), which provided legal services to the victims free of charge, called the punishment "too lenient".
"The offender should have been charged with purchasing child prostitution from a minor under 15, which would have meant a prison sentence in between 7 and 15 years," said APLE country director Seila Samleang. "And the two courts should have issued a deportation order."
|
