Russian investor receives 13 years in jail in Cambodia for abusing teenager

PHNOM PENH, March 14 (Xinhua) -- Russian investor Alexander Trofimov, 41 years old, received 13 years in jail from the Phnom Penh Municipal Court here on Friday, for his sexual abuse of a 14-year-old Cambodian girl.

Chief Judge Ke Sakhan said that the court had enough evidence to convict Trofimov.

Cambodian man Phal Vannara, 34 years old, was also sentenced to11 years of imprisonment for providing the girl to the Russian man.

According to the sentence, the two men had to pay 100,000 U.S. dollars in compensation for the victim.

The girl earlier testified to the court that she had sex with Trofimov for four times in September last year for some 100 U.S. dollars out of the 1,000 U.S. dollars that Trofimov paid to the middle man.

Lawyer for the investor told reporters that his client will appeal.

Trofimov was arrested in October 2007 for allegedly sexually abusing at least 19 girls since 2005.

He has remained a prominent figure in the kingdom, after signing a deal of 300 million U.S. dollars in 2006 to develop an island near port city Sihanoukville into a tourist resort.

The Cambodian government in recent years exerted a heavy hand over paedophiles, as child rights groups campaigned hard for it to take the problem in a serious way.