Austrian Gets 10 Years For Abusing Cambodian Boys

A Cambodian court sentenced a 64-year-old Austrian man to ten years in jail on Tuesday for sexually abusing boys aged 13 and 14, the trial judge and lawyer said.

Olaf Achleitner of Salzburg, who was arrested in September, denied the allegations and accused police of framing him.

"They were in my house but I did nothing wrong," he told Reuters outside the courtroom as he was led away in handcuffs.

"This is a death sentence for me as an old man."

Achleitner, who worked as a cook at a western restaurant in Phnom Penh, was also ordered to pay $1,000 in compensation to the two victims.

Cambodia, a deeply impoverished southeast Asian nation, has long-been regarded as a haven for western paedophiles and perverts, although it has stepped up prosecution of foreigners in recent years.