A lenient sentence for a St. Petersburg man convicted of raping his niece for four years starting when she was 5 provoked an outcry Thursday.

St. Petersburg's Dzerzhinsky District Court handed down a six-year suspended sentence in the case on Feb. 26, Interfax reported Thursday.

Sexual intercourse with a child under 12 carries a maximum of 15 years in prison. The court considered that the defendant's married status, full-time employment and positive references provided by acquaintances were mitigating circumstances.  

Since hearing the verdict, the victim, now 12, has refused to leave her apartment out of fear, Fontanka.ru reported, citing the girl's lawyer, Oksana Khomyakova.

Officials did not identify the defendant, the victim or the judge who delivered the verdict.

Anton Belyakov, a State Duma deputy with A Just Russia, called the verdict "inhuman" and said he had asked law enforcement agencies to investigate whether the defendant had bribed the judge, Interfax reported.

Belyakov said the judge should be fired.

Federation Council Senator Viktor Yevtyukhov has asked St. Petersburg chief prosecutor Sergei Zaitsev about the reasoning behind the verdict and requested that Zaitsev secure the victim's interests and take the matter under his personal control, Interfax said.

St. Petersburg prosecutors have filed an appeal to the sentence in the city court.

Svetlana Agapitova, the city's children's ombudsman, and the victim's lawyer Khomyakova also plan to appeal.

Mikhail Grishankov, first deputy head of the Duma's Security Committee, said he felt "indignation and astonishment" over the verdict, which he called a "shame for Russia," United Russia's web site reported.  

Belyakov cited data claiming that up to 90 percent of convicted rapists repeat the offense after being released from prison.

St. Petersburg Governor Valentina Matviyenko has argued in favor of chemical castration for pedophiles.