Kenneth Klassen (born 1951) is an

art dealer An art dealer is a person or company that buys and sells works of art, or acts as the intermediary between the buyers and sellers of art. An art dealer in contemporary art typically seeks out various artists to represent, and builds relationsh ...

from

Burnaby Burnaby is a city in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia, Canada. Located in the centre of the Burrard Peninsula, it neighbours the City of Vancouver to the west, the District of North Vancouver across the confluence of the Burrard I ...

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

, Canada. Starting at the age of 27 or 28, Klassen began sexually abusing children and continued doing so for more than 25 years. He sexually abused fourteen children as a sex tourist in

Cambodia Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, spanning an area of , bordered by Thailan ...

and Colombia between December 1998 and March 2002 and videotaped himself while doing so. The victims were all less than 14 years old, and they ranged in age to as young as 8 years old. In 2010, he was convicted of having engaged in child sex tourism and having broken Canada's child pornography laws. Klassen was sentenced to eleven years in prison, which was, at the time, the harshest sentence anyone had ever received for breaking Canada's law against sex tourism. The law

came into force In law, coming into force or entry into force (also called commencement) is the process by which legislation, regulations, treaties and other legal instruments come to have legal force and effect. The term is closely related to the date of this t ...

thirteen years before Klassen's conviction, and only two other people had been convicted under that law in that time. An article about Klassen's

sex crimes Sex and the law deals with the regulation by law of human sexual activity. Sex laws vary from one place or jurisdiction to another, and have varied over time. Unlawful sexual acts are called sex crimes. Some laws regarding sexual activity are ...

, written by

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalis ...

Daphne Bramham for ''

The Vancouver Sun The ''Vancouver Sun'', also known as the ''Sun'', is a daily broadsheet newspaper based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The newspaper is currently published by the Pacific Newspaper Group, a division of Postmedia Network. Published si ...

'', was nominated for the Beyond Borders media award for exceptional coverage of issues related child sexual exploitation.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Klassen, Kenneth Living people 1951 births Canadian art dealers People convicted of child pornography offenses Canadian people convicted of child sexual abuse Child prostitution People from Burnaby Businesspeople from British Columbia Prisoners and detainees of Canada Canadian prisoners and detainees