A man from the Netherlands, who was found guilty in British Columbia of crimes such as blackmail and harassment involving a young Canadian girl who tragically committed suicide after being manipulated online, had his prison term reduced on Thursday by an Amsterdam court from 13 years to six.

Aydin Coban wasn’t present in Amsterdam District Court for a brief hearing to announce the sentence. His lawyer, Robert Malewicz, said he would appeal the decision to the Dutch Supreme Court.

In 2020, Coban was sent back from the Netherlands to Canada to face legal proceedings for offenses related to Amanda Todd. Todd, who died by suicide in 2012 at 15 years old, had posted a video explaining the harassment she experienced from an online bully. According to court records, Coban was born in 1978 and is currently 44 or 45 years old.

He was sent to Canada under the stipulation that he would serve his sentence in a Dutch prison. This also required converting the prison time imposed by the British Columbia Supreme Court last year into a sentence in the Netherlands.

In July, the Dutch prosecutor recommended reducing the Canadian’s sentence to four-and-a-half years, following sentencing guidelines in the Netherlands and taking into account the time he served in a difficult Canadian prison.

The court’s decision did not consider his time served in a Canadian prison and instead gave him the maximum sentence of six years.

Coban, who was found guilty of similar charges related to extorting 33 young girls and gay men online, is currently serving an 11-year prison sentence in the Netherlands. He will begin serving his new sentence after completing his current term next year.

Malewicz criticized the Canadian sentence as being excessively severe, even for Canadian norms. He believed that Coban should not face additional prison time, but if the court deemed it necessary, the maximum sentence should be one year with six months suspended.

After a short hearing on Thursday, he informed reporters that they will take the case to the Supreme Court.

The issue of cyberbullying in Canada gained widespread recognition after Todd’s death by suicide. The teenager from Port Coquitlam had shared a video on YouTube where she used written signs to explain how she was convinced by a stranger to reveal her breasts on a webcam.

The image was posted on a Facebook page and her friends were tagged in it.

Despite transferring to different schools, she continued to be a target of bullying until she tragically took her own life weeks after sharing a video.

In the province of British Columbia, Coban was found guilty by a jury of all the charges against him, which included communicating with a minor to commit a sexual offense and possessing and distributing child pornography.

Last year, Canadian Judge Martha Devlin stated when Coban was sentenced that Mr. Coban was aware of the significant impact of his actions on Amanda and that it would have been apparent to anyone at the time.

According to her, Mr. Coban’s explicit aim was to ruin Amanda’s life, and unfortunately, he succeeded in doing so.

Source: wral.com