via Khmer NZ
By The Associated Press (CP) – 1 hour ago
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — A former Russian businessman convicted of sexually abusing more than a dozen Cambodian girls has had his prison term reduced from 17 years to eight.
An Appeals Court on Thursday reduced the sentence of Alexander Trofimov on the grounds that he had apologized to the victims and their families, and had been unaware that he had committed an offence under Cambodian law.
Trofimov had been chairman of a Russian-led investment group given the right to develop a Cambodian tourist island. He was arrested in October 2007 and initially charged with abusing 19 girls, but finally convicted in three separate cases of offences against 17 girls.
A lawyer for the victims Nuon Phanith called Thursday's court ruling "unacceptable."
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