Cambodia Cuts Jail Term for German Pedophile

Cambodian anti-trafficking activists voiced dismay Thursday after a court slashed the prison sentence of a German man involved in one of the kingdom's most lurid child sex cases.

The Appeal Court reduced the 28-year jail term given to Karl Heinz Henning Opitz in 2007 to 10 years, activists said. With time served he could be freed in three years.

Investigators said at the time they had found videos showing Opitz and another German man engaging in violent sex acts with Vietnamese girls as young as 10 years old, some of whom were bound.

"A verdict of 10 years for all the crimes that (it) was proved he committed with such a high level of severity does not bring any justice to the victims," said Seila Samleang, country director of Action Pour Les Enfants (APLE).

The rights group said Opitz paid for traffickers to bring children to his apartment, where he would tie them up, whip and rape them from three to four hours and then send them back to the traffickers.

Cambodia launched an anti-pedophilia drive in 2003 in an effort to end its reputation as a haven for child sex offenders.

Dozens of foreigners have since been jailed for child sex crimes or deported to face trial in their home countries.