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In this gazebo on the outskirts of Munster, men abused several children
Photo: Marcel Kusch / dpa
In connection with the abuse network around a gazebo on the outskirts of the city of Münster, another defendant has been sentenced to a long prison term.
As the police in Münster announced, the regional court in Klagenfurt, Austria, sentenced a 45-year-old to a prison sentence of 15 years for serious sexual abuse of children.
The court considered it proven that the Austrian had molested eight children between the ages of seven and ten years.
The man was also ordered to be sent to an institution for "mentally abnormal lawbreakers."
The detectives of the "Rose Investigation Commission" had tracked down the truck driver by evaluating chat sessions with the main suspect from Munster.
Intensive investigations in cooperation with the "Central and Contact Point Cybercrime" (ZAC) North Rhine-Westphalia based at the Cologne Public Prosecutor then led to the arrest of the man in Carinthia at the beginning of December 2020.
The trial of a 24-year-old German who was also arrested there is still pending.
Investigators found huge amounts of video footage
In the case uncovered in 2020, children were raped in a gazebo in Münster and other places.
The investigators found extensive child pornography videos and photos there, as well as recording technology installed by the stepfather of a boy who was repeatedly abused, who is believed to be the main perpetrator.
So far, the police have identified more than 30 victims and located over 50 suspects, some of whom have already been convicted.
The police in Münster had secured a total of 1.5 million gigabytes of data that document the acts.
fek / dpa / AFP