MOSCOW, Oct. 6 (UPI) -- Russian politician Andrei Bogdanov has called for physical castration as punishment for convicted pedophiles.
Bogdanov, of the pro-Kremlin Pravoye Delo party, said he believes that the chemical castration law is not a severe enough punishment for convicted child molesters, RIA Novosti reported.
The new law, passed by Russia's lower house of Parliament Tuesday, involves injections that reduce the sex drives of child sex offenders, but are only given on a voluntary basis. The law also orders a life sentence for anyone convicted of a second sexual offense.
"I believe that if you want to [punish] harshly then the [punishment] should be harsh," Bogdanov told a news conference Thursday in Moscow. "Physical castration would be great."
The law has received general public approval after more than 9,500 cases of child rape were reported in Russia last year, the report said.
