Phnom Penh - A Cambodian court formally charged a German
man with child-sex crimes after two days of questioning and remanded
him in custody, police said Wednesday.
Phnom Penh deputy police chief of anti-trafficking Keo Thea said
Walter Munz, a 62-year-old tourist from Stuttgart, had been sent to
Prey Sar prison awaiting trial. Under Cambodian law he can be
detained for up to six months while police investigate the case.
He was formally charged with debauchery - the Cambodian legal term
covering a wide range of sex crimes but most often applied to charges
of adults having sex with minors.
'We acted on information provided by the German police, and we are
still seeking possible associates of this man,' Thea said, adding
that police believed there may be more victims yet to come forward.
Munz was arrested Sunday in a raid on a local guesthouse. Police
allege he was found in a state of undress with a 13-year-old girl in
his room.
Thea said police had confiscated a number of photographs during
the raid depicting street children in various poses, some of them
pornographic.
'He had claimed he was an aid worker helping street children, but
the German police informed us he should be watched, and we
investigated and arrested him,' Thea said.
He said Munz had befriended the alleged victim and her mother when
they were begging on the city's busy riverfront.
He said Munz had won the mother's trust by claiming that he wanted
to give the girl tuition, but the girl claimed that instead he had
repeatedly sexually molested her, and threatened her if she told
anyone about the abuse.
If convicted he faces 20 years in prison and is liable to
considerable compensation payouts to victims.
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur 
USA
Your Talkback on this Story