Moldovans pass law for castration of paedophiles

Foreigners convicted of sexually abusing children in Moldova will be chemically castrated without consent, under a new law passed yesterday.

Foreigners convicted of sexually abusing children in Moldova will be chemically castrated without consent, under a new law passed yesterday.

Parliament approved the law after MPs said the impoverished nation was attracting paedophiles from the West.

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The new law states foreign and Moldovan nationals found guilty of paedophilia will be chemically castrated, while courts will rule separately on those found guilty of rape. The move was criticised by the Council of Europe, which said chemical castration should involve consent.

Valeriu Munteanu, a Moldovan Liberal Party MP, said the measure was necessary after several cases involving western European nationals.

“The Republic of Moldova has been transformed in recent years into ‘a tourist destination’ for Western paedophiles and there have been cases where rapists have repeatedly offended even after they served prison time,” Mr Munteanu told MPs.

The measure has broad support in Moldova. There have been nine convictions for child sex offences there in the past two years – five involving western European perpetrators. Child sex offenders risk up to 20 years in jail and in some cases life.

Chemical castration involves the administration of testosterone-suppressing hormones every three months to curb sexual drive.

The new legislation follows similar developments in other countries. The Czech Republic has mandatory chemical castration for some offenders and Poland legalised the procedure in 2009 for offenders who rape minors or close relatives. Russian MPs in October gave first-round approval to a bill that would impose chemical castration on repeat sex offenders.

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