Italian accused of child sexual abuse in Moldova

The prosecution bodies of Moldova and the Center “La Strada” made revelations about cases of sexual exploitation following the identification of a group of foreigners who recruited Moldovan minors for having sexual relations with pedophiles, Info-Prim Neo reports. In a news conference on Wednesday, prosecutors of the Interior Ministry’s Center for Combating Trafficking in Persons provided information about a legal case on pedophilia opened last April. According to prosecutor Elena Cazacov, who investigated the given case, the police arrested an Italian national who is accused of child sexual abuse. “He lured children by offering them to form part of an Italian football club. The Italian recruited victims during several months, including in Internet cafes. He promised the minors he will pay their debts for using the Internet and persuaded them to go to his place to use his computer,” the prosecutor said. The man also recruited children over the Internet, through Skype. The children were enticed to pose naked before the web camera. The recordings were discovered by the police in the offender’s computer in a Chisinau apartment. The man was caught in the act of trying to sexually abuse a 13-year-old boy. In the apartment, the police found photos of naked minors or children having sexual relations with adults. The Italian was earlier convicted of pedophilia by the authorities of his country. The Prosecutor’s Office is also investigating a case of child sexual exploitation by two Italians and a Norwegian who has Russian nationality as well. They also recruited minors aged between 13 and 17, mainly from the left bank of the Nistru. The children were from poor families and were lured with money. It was established that the foreigners recruited minors for having sexual relations with persons of nontraditional sexual orientation from the U.S., Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Thailand, Switzerland, Australia, and other countries. The services cost up to €500. The abused children were paid 150 to 500 lei. It is presumed that the foreigners involved over 100 minors in sexual activity with the help of Moldovan accomplices. The Moldovan suspects are being investigated. The persons fund guilty of trafficking in children and procuring face up to 20 years in jail or life imprisonment.