Vienna (AFP)
Former Austrian judo champion Peter Seisenbacher was sentenced on Monday after a long five-year jail term for sexual abuse of minors, one of whom was a 9-year-old and was training.
The Vienna Court recognized Mr Seisenbacher, 59, a gold medalist at the 1984 and 1988 Olympic Games, guilty at first instance of all the charges against him, including that of rape, aggravated by the right of way, over two girls.
One of the victims, then 9 years old, testified to having sex for three years. The second complainant was 13 years old at the time.
A third had brought to the attention of the court an attempted sexual assault at a summer camp at the age of sixteen.
Peter Seisenbacher was their coach between the late 90s and early 2000s, having ended his athletic career. He denied the facts during the trial.
"We did not get the impression that the plaintiffs were wrong, that they were lying or plotting," said the judge.
Mr Seisenbacher was sentenced to ten years in prison and both parties to the proceedings may appeal against the judgment.
The athlete had ended his career in 1988, a month after becoming the first judoka to keep Olympic gold in Seoul.
In addition to his two Olympic titles under 86 kg, he also won the world gold in 1985 and European in 1986. After 2010, he coached the Georgia team and Azerbaijan.
He had not appeared at his trial in December 2016 and had been the subject of an international arrest warrant.
He was extradited in September from Ukraine, where he tried to seek asylum and then flee with forged documents.
© 2019 AFP