A 24-year-old student was sentenced to 10 months in prison by the Phnom Penh Municipal Court yesterday for posting 14 nude photos of his girlfriend on Facebook in an attempt to extort money from her in exchange for deleting them.

Presiding judge Mong Mony Sorphea said that, “based on the hearing and real evidence”, SETEC University IT student Eng Samphors was guilty of distribution of a pornographic image and extortion under Article 39 of the Law on Suppression of Human Trafficking and Sexual Exploitation, and Article 232 of the penal code, respectively.

“The court has decided to sentence him to 10 months’ imprisonment, and orders him to pay 5 million riel [about $1,250] in compensation to the victim,” he said.

Anti-Human Trafficking and Juvenile Protection Police with the Ministry of Interior arrested Samphors in March after receiving a complaint from the victim’s parents, Mony Sorphea added.

Samphors declined to answer questions yesterday, but during his hearing earlier this month, he admitted to taking and distributing the images, but denied trying to extort money from the victim and her family.

“She was my girlfriend, and we both have been in love with each other since many months ago,” he said. “The reason why I posted her nude photos on my Facebook was because I got angry that she refused to meet me, and did not come to me.”

His 21-year-old victim, however, said that she had met Samphors over Facebook, and that he had raped her at his house while his parents were out.

“After raping me, he took the nude photos,” she said.

“He later called me to meet him at his house in order to have sex with me again, but I did not go,” she added. “He got very angry with me, so he posted my nude photos on his Facebook, and also threatened to extort money from me in exchange for deleting my nude photos.”