Swede Punished For Foreign Crime

A retired Swedish civil servant was sentenced to three months in jail Thursday for having sex with a teenage boy in Thailand.

The conviction for breaking a Swedish law in a foreign country was watched closely by other countries and by activists battling the global child prostitution industry, particularly in Asia.

Bent Bolin, 69, was found guilty of soliciting sex with the youth, then 14, while visiting the popular Thai resort of Pattaya in 1993. He was found with the teenager in a hotel room during a raid by Thai police and a Danish film crew, acting on a tip from Swedish police.

Bolin was charged under a law that allows Swedish citizens to be tried for breaking a Swedish law in another country. Bolin could have received a maximum sentence of four years in prison.

Prosecutors argued that Sweden had an obligation to convict Bolin in the interest of children worldwide.