Russian former foster parent sentenced to 22 years for committing over 900 rapes and/or sex attacks

A 37-year-old Russian man who admitted to committing over 900 rapes and/or sex attacks was sentenced to 22 years in jail, according to published reports.

Viktor Lishavsky regarded his school-age victims — most of them orphans — as sexual slaves. He is believed to be the worst convicted pedophile in Russian history.

Although the gold-toothed Lishavsky confessed to the crimes, he refused to give any evidence during a closed-door trail on Komsomolsk-on-Amur, according to multiple reports. The city, located on the far eastern side of Russia, is about 1,600 miles from Moscow.

How old were the victims?

Most of his crimes were against girls around age 13. Lishavsky reportedly had three children with his wife and they fostered nine more. It is unclear from published reports exactly how many distinct victims Lishavsky may have had.

Lishavsky’s criminal empire started unraveling after a girl complained to her foster mother about the abuse. Other girls then came forward with similar stories that happened over a five-year time frame.

He had manipulated the girls into viewing him as a father figure, state prosecutor Tatyana Filatova told The Sun.

Some of the victims talked with each other about what happened, but otherwise kept the abuse to themselves.

“The children were taken from an orphanage, and none of them wanted to lose their family,” Filatova said. “They finally had both a mom and dad. The terrible details came to the surface only later.”

One of the girls said she wasn’t afraid and she decided to speak out, Filatova said. She told her foster mother who in turn went to police.

“All these years, the adoptive mother did not see anything, because she often was in the hospital with her son,” the prosecutor said.

What were the charges?

Lishavsky was found guilty of raping minors, committing acts with “particular cruelty,” and forcing his underage victims to commit sexual acts, the court told media. Lishavsky was also convicted of using violence against girls under 16-years-old and subjecting them to torture.

He reportedly ran a shoe repair shop during the day and attacked his victims at night. He was the former head of an evangelical church in Amursk.

After Lishavsky serves his sentence in a strict regime penal colony, he will be unable to leave the town where he lives for an additional two years. The court also banned him from working with children for a two decades after his release, the Sun reported.