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Phnom Penh, Feb 8 (IANS) A court in Cambodia Friday convicted a 58-year-old French national of child sex abuse and sentenced him to 18 months in jail, Xinhua reported. Judge Chea Sokheang of the Phnom Penh Municipal Court found Marcel Morin guilty of sexual abuse of two underage boys in 2007. The Frenchman was arrested in February last year. The court also ordered him to pay $750 and $1,500 as compensation to each of the victims. Morin is currently serving a one-year prison term on charges of sexual assault of five minors, aged seven to 13 years. The NGO Action Pour Les Enfants, which provided legal services to the victims free of charge, termed the punishment "too lenient". "The offender should have been charged with purchasing child prostitution from a minor under 15, which would have meant a prison sentence in between seven and 15 years," Seila Samleang, the NGO's country director, was quoted as saying by Xinhua. The court should also have issued a deportation order, the official said.
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