11-year sentence urged for Dutch cyberbully

B.C. teen Amanda Todd among dozens of his alleged victims

THE HAGUE, Netherlands — Dutch prosecutors on Thursday sought the maximum possible sentence — nearly 11 years — for a man charged with cyberbullying dozens of young girls and gay men.

The defendant is also accused in Canada of sexually extorting Port Coquitlam’s Amanda Todd, a 15-year-old girl who complained of harassment before killing herself.

In an emotional closing statement, prosecutor Annet Kramer urged judges at a court in Amsterdam to sentence the 38-year-old suspect, identified only as Aydin C., to 10 years and eight months in prison, saying he subjected some of his victims to years of emotional abuse.

“To do justice in any way to the gravity of the facts, and the refined way in which the suspect systematically put his own interests far above those of his victims, the prosecution believes that there is no room to impose anything other than the maximum sentence,” Kramer told judges at a highsecurity Amsterdam courthouse, according to a written copy of her statement.

In Canada, C. faces a separate trial in the cyberbullying of Amanda., who drew global attention to online abuse when she posted a YouTube video recounting her ordeal. She later took her own life.

In 2014, the RCMP announced it was charging C. with extortion, importing or distributing child pornography, possessing child pornography and child luring in connection to Todd’s case.

A Dutch court has approved the suspect’s extradition following his trial in Amsterdam. He has appealed that decision