Russian politician calls for physical castration for child sex offenders

PanARMENIAN.Net - A senior Russian politician has called for physical castration as punishment for child sex offenders, RIA Novosti reported.

Andrei Bogdanov, a top figure in the pro-Kremlin Pravoye Delo party, was speaking two days after Russia’s lower house of parliament voted in favor of chemical castration for convicted pedophiles.

The process involves injections that reduce sex drive.

But Bogdanov said the injections - only to be made on a voluntary basis - were not enough. “I believe that if you want to [punish] harshly then the [punishment] should be harsh,” he told a news conference in Moscow. “Physical castration would be great.”

President Medvedev has said child molesters should be punished “as harsh as possible.”

The new law, which also stipulates life sentence for those convicted of a second sexual offence, has received widespread public support.

More than 9,500 cases of child rape were reported in Russia last year.