Russia freed paedophile ring suspects

MOSCOW, Russia (Reuters) -- Police have released two suspects in an international paedophile ring under an amnesty, because Russia does not have a special law against distributing child pornography.

The international paedophile ring has dominated headlines in Italy this week after police there arrested eight of the group's clients and said they were investigating 1,700 people.

But that may only be the start: Russian police also have names of clients in the United States, Britain and Germany, Kiril Mazurin, a spokesman for the Moscow Criminal Search unit of the city police, said.

The lists of clients have been distributed to police worldwide through Interpol, he said.

Moscow police uncovered the ring, arresting three suspects in February in an apartment with "large amounts of pornographic video material involving children," he said.

Italian police have said some of the videos ordered by Italian citizens from Russia included footage of children being raped and tortured to death.

They said the Russian ring kidnapped children from orphanages, circuses and public parks, and filmed them being forced to commit sexual acts. Mazurin said one of the three Russian suspects had participated in sex acts with children on the tapes.

He said the person was convicted and sentenced to 11 years in prison for having sex with minors.

But two other suspects, who had not appeared in the films themselves, were charged only with distributing pornography. They were released automatically under an amnesty bill in May.

"Under Russia's criminal code, distribution of pornography is not considered a 'major crime', and therefore the amnesty applied," Mazurin said.

He said Russia's law on pornography distribution does not provide for special penalties if the material involved includes children.

"They are free. They can walk, ride, sleep, eat, do anything any other free person can do," he said of the two released suspects, whom he did not name.

He declined to say whether any further control was being exercised over the former suspects to prevent them from repeating their crimes.

Copyright 2000 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

See related sites about Europe

Note: Pages will open in a new browser window

External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.