Frenchmen face child sex charges in Cambodia

Two Frenchmen have been charged with child sex offences in separate cases in Cambodia, according to Phnom Penh officials Wednesday.

The city’s municipal court charged 35-year-old designer and photographer Mathias Cassar with producing and selling child pornography on the internet.

Cassar was arrested on Sunday as he was preparing to take pictures of three under-age girls at a rented house in the Phnom Penh.

Cassar's Cambodian wife was also arrested and faces the same charges. Cassar is thought to have abused at least eight children, all aged five to 13, according to prosecutor Plang Sophal.

The couple face up to 20 years in jail if convicted, he said.

In a separate case, 60-year-old Bernard Bouillier was on Sunday charged with sexually harassing three boys aged between 10 and 13 in the southern beach resort of Sihanoukville, said Suon Sophan, deputy chief of the town's anti-trafficking and juvenile protection unit.

Cambodia launched an anti-paedophilia push in 2003. Dozens of foreigners have since been jailed for child sex crimes or deported to face trial in their home countries.