'Sex tourism' rapist jailed in France

Monique Pelletier, lawyer for the Thai girl raped by Amnon Chemouil

PARIS, France -- A Frenchman found guilty of raping a child during a "sex holiday" in Thailand sobbed in court as he was sentenced to seven years in prison.

Amnon Chemouil, 47, broke down in court on Friday and apologised to the girl, now 17, for "stealing" her childhood.

"I want to tell the victim that the guilty party, and that is me, bears all the responsibility for what happened," he told the court.

"She did nothing, either by her actions or her words, to encourage me to do anything.

"I hope that these words will bring her a little peace and help her rediscover the childhood I stole from her."

The victim, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, was 11 when the Frenchman forced her to perform oral sex in a hotel room in the Thai beach resort of Pataya in February 1994 in return for 21 French francs ($3).

Evidence presented during the trial included a videotape of the girl's molestation found in Chemouil's apartment.

Prosecutors say it was filmed by one of two Swiss men who were with Chemouil in Pattaya.

Chemouil, a public transport worker from Paris, was arrested in 1997 after Swiss police probing a paedophile ring alerted French police and spent eight months in detention.

He is the first person to stand trial before a French jury under a law passed in 1994 to combat "sex tourism."

It allows suspects in rape cases involving minors abroad to be prosecuted in France.

The case is also the first of its type in France at which child protection groups have been able to play a role as civil plaintiffs alongside the public prosecution.

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) tracked down the Thai girl and paid her trip to Paris for the trial.

"People have to know that when you go abroad to amuse yourself in an abject manner...you risk being punished when you get home," Alain Fraitag, a lawyer for one of the dozen groups engaged in the case, said outside the Paris Court of Assises.

UNICEF estimates 400,000 Thai children are forced into the sex trade

UNICEF estimates that some two million children around the world are pressed into prostitution, including 400,000 in Thailand alone.

Chemouil, who was also ordered to pay damages of 50,000 French francs ($6,500) to the teenager, had faced a maximum 20-year jail term, although state prosecutor Evelyn Lesieur had been seeking a 10-year sentence, saying the accused should not be turned into a scapegoat.

His lawyer, Francois Rozenbaum, asked the court to impose a maximum five-year prison sentence and obligatory therapy.

During the trial, Rozenbaum said Chemouil "blames himself for having been weak and not being able to say 'no'," but that experts had not classed him as a paedophile.

Reuters contributed to this report.

Alleged 'sex tourism' case begins in France
October 19, 2000

UNICEF

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