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AFP

Alexander Moritz Watrin is escorted Thursday by police officers to the Court of Appeal in Phnom Penh.

SEX CRIMES

 

Phnom Penh's Appeal Court upheld Tuesday the conviction of German paedophile Alexander Moritz Watrin but cut his sentence by three years, citing a change in child abuse laws. The 38-year-old computer designer was convicted in 2006 of debauchery, the term Cambodian authorities used for sexual abuse before laws were changed last year. Preah Sihanouk provincial court had sentenced Watrin to 10 years in prison and ordered him to pay US$5,000 in compensation to four homeless boys between the ages of 12 and 15 he was found guilty of molesting at his rented home along the coast. Watrin's defence lawyer, Pich Sorya, told the Post Tuesday he was unsure whether his client, who continues to maintain his innocence, would pursue an additional appeal. Teng Maneth, the lawyer provided by the anti-paedophile NGO Action Pour Les Enfacts to represent the victims, said the reduced sentenced was ‘‘reasonable'' and in line with the revised law on child sex abuse.