A 37-year-old man and his brother aged 33 were sentenced to life imprisonment in maximum security jails for sexual offenses against their stepdaughters, IPN reports.

According to the Prosecutor General’s Office, in the course of 2021, while at his domicile in central Moldova, while his concubine wasn’t at home, he had raped the woman’s older daughter who was under 14 at that time and who was under his supervision. He also sexually molested her younger sister. The man threatened to kill her mother if the older daughter didn’t keep the violation secret.

His brother acted similarly with regard to the underage daughter of his concubine between the spring of 2021 and the summer of 2022 at his home in a village in central Moldova.

Both of the men pleaded not guilty. The sentences can be disputed in the Chinua Appeals Court within 15 days.