A child rapist in Russia's second city of St. Petersburg on Wednesday received a 6-year suspended sentence for the multiple sexual molestation of a small girl and was immediately released in court.
The girl, now 9 years old, was repeatedly raped by a close relative over the course of four years, according to investigators.
"The child rapist is a close relative of the girl and he committed the first sexual act [with her] when she was five years old and continued raping her until she turned nine," the lawyer representing the girl and her mother, Oxana Khomyakova, said.
During investigations after his arrest in May of last year, the 25-year-old man admitted he had raped the girl at least 13 times; however, in court he denied the allegations. Five of the episodes were proven in court and the pedophile finally admitted to those specific charges.
The lawyer said the sex criminal had received the 6-year suspended sentence and was released in court because he "is married, has a permanent job, and has a positive character reference," which the court took into consideration and eased his punishment.
She also said "the girl is frightened to leave her house" and that the girl's mother has since taken the child to a neurologist. The lawyer said the family will make an appeal to a higher court of law.
The problem of child abuse in Russia has become very acute. According the official statistics, more than 126,000 children were exposed to sexual violence in 2008.
Amendments intending to strengthen the criminal liability for crimes against the life, health and sexual inviolability of minors were made to the Russian Criminal Code last summer. For example, sexual intercourse with a juvenile is punishable by imprisonment of up to 15 years.
"We should apply severe measures to pedophiles to include chemical castration," St. Petersburg Mayor Valentina Matvienko stated on March 2.
ST. PETERSBURG, March 3 (RIA Novosti)
