PARIS A Frenchman who had sex with an 11 year-old girl while on holiday in Thailand faces rape charges Thursday in a trial which activists hope will deal a serious blow to the sex tourism industry, AFP said The girl, now aged 17, has been brought to Paris by the United Nations children's agency UNICEF which is a civil plaintiff in the case and will give evidence against her alleged attacker.
Amnon Chemouil, a 48-year-old underground railway worker from Paris, was caught because his travelling companion, a Swiss man called Viktor Michel, made a videotape of the sexual encounter in the town of Pattaya in 1994.
Michel identified Chemouil when Swiss police raided his home and found the pornographic recording, and they passed the information on to their French counterparts.
"This is a trial that should give paedophiles cause for fear, and convince them there is no impunity," said Jacques Hintzy president of the French branch of UNICEF.
"Pressure must be brought on public opinion to stop these outrages continuing.
Millions of people are having their childhoods stolen and being treated like merchandise," he said.
Prosecution lawyers will ask that the videotape be shown in camera, in order to prove that Chemouil forced the girl to give him oral sex, which in French law would constitute rape.