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A Lesson From Tourism Industry- SLO



Subject: A Lesson From Tourism Industry- SLORC, Watch Out!

>From: vongkovp@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (Piyapong Vongkovit)
>Newsgroups: soc.culture.thai
>Subject: The Swedish pedophile case.
>Date: 24 Jun 1995 17:11:23 -0400

 
By PIMUK RAKKANAM 
   Please toggle back to PCUPI and hit alt c BANGKOK, June 23 (UPI) -- 
Thai officials expressed satisfaction Friday over the jailing of a 
Swedish man for having sex with a Thai boy and said the landmark case 
was likely to curb the sexual exploitation of Third World children by 
tourists. 
   Bengt Bolin, a 69-year-old Swedish retiree, was sentenced to three 
months in prison on Thursday by a Stockholm court for violating Swedish 
laws against having sex with minors. 
   He was also ordered to pay $4,000 plus interest to the Thai boy with 
whom he had sex and $5,527 to the Swedish court to cover its costs.  
   The case is regarded as setting a major precedent because although 
the offense occurred in the Thai tourist resort of Pattaya, Bolin was 
convicted and sentenced under newly enacted Swedish laws. 
   Similar legislation aimed at tourists who visit poor, mainly Asian 
countries in search of under-age sex partners is pending or has already 
been passed by several European countries, the United States and 
Australia. 
   "We have signaled to pedophiles that if they continue their behavior 
they will risk legal punishment," said Wanchai Roujanavong, deputy 
director of the Thai Attorney General's Office. 
   Wanchai, who traveled to Stockholm to represent the Thai Justice 
Ministry in the case, said the conviction and sentencing of Bolin would 
be beneficial to the fight against sexual exploitation of children. 
   "We believe these sexual offenses will decline because we have shown 
our commitment to fight against such activities," he said. 
   Wanchai said Bolin had attracted the support of Swedish pedophile and 
homosexual groups during the trial. 
   Nevertheless, he said Bolin had expressed anguish over being shunned 
by family and friends for the past two years. 
   Bolin was arrested by Thai police on Feb. 19, 1993 in a Pattaya hotel 
room with a Thai boy who was then 13 1/2 at the time, according to Sudarat 
Sereewat-Srisang, coordinator of non-government organization Fight 
Against Child Exploitation. 
   "Two Swedish undercover police posing as pedophiles tipped off Thai 
police to arrest Bolin," Sudarat said at a news conference in Bangkok 
Friday. "Bolin thought they were the same as him. He told them how many 
kids he had sex with and how many times he had sexual intercourse with a 
14 year old boy." 
   Sudarat formerly worked with another private group, End Child 
Prostitution in Asia-Pacific Tourism, which financed the trip to Sweden 
of the Thai boy in order for him testify in the case. 
   Bolin was released from Chonburi Prison, southeast of Bangkok, after 
he posted bail of $6,000. He managed to obtain a new passport and flee 
home to Sweden on March 10, 1993. 
   But after unprecedented cooperation between Thai and Swedish 
authorities, prodded by private organizations, Bolin was re-arrested in 
Sweden and went on trial June 12-15. 
   He could have been sentenced to a maximum of four years for the child 
sex offense under Swedish law. 
   "This is the first case of a foreign government prosecuting its 
citizen for sexually abusing children in Thailand," said Saisuri 
Jutikoon, an advisor to the Thai prime minister's office. "Men who want 
to exploit children are not acceptable. And our own laws, which require 
that violators must be caught in the act, are totally inadequate."