Millionaire gets 13 years for child porn

Millionaire sentenced to 13 years in child-porn case

Cancun (Mexico), April 1 (IANS/EFE)

A Mexican court sentenced Lebanese-born millionaire Jean Succar Kuri to 13 years in prison for producing child pornography and corrupting minors.

Succar Kuri, who also faces rape charges, has been behind bars in this Caribbean resort city since his extradition from the US in July 2006.

Besides jail time, the tourism magnate was ordered to pay 350,000 pesos ($29,000) in damages to each of seven victims, the judiciary said in a statement.

While hailing the verdict as 'historic', an attorney for one of the victims complained that Succar Kuri's prison term amounts to less than two years for each minor he abused.

Xavier Olea said he and other lawyers representing victims will demand a minimum sentence of 60 years for Succar Kuri if he is convicted on three counts of rape in a trial that could start in May.

The child-porn case dates from 2003, when a group of minors in Cancun filed a criminal complaint against Succar Kuri.

An investigation by Quintana Roo state police uncovered videos and still photographs of sex acts involving Succar Kuri and girls as young as four, while state prosecutors later caught him on videotape confessing to one of his victims.

The businessman fled to the US, but was arrested in Arizona at the request of Mexican authorities.

One of those who did the most to publicise the crimes of Succar Kuri was journalist, author and women's rights activist Lydia Cacho, who suffered death threats and judicial persecution for exposing paedophile rings in Cancun.

Cacho welcomed the conviction of Succar Kuri as the fruit of efforts by society and a few 'honest' public servants.

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