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British Court Convicts Rich Russian Youth of Gang Rape

Four sons of wealthy Russian families who came to Britain to study instead face prison after being found guilty of a gang rape that they filmed on a cell phone.

The defendants, convicted by a jury Monday, were identified as Oleg Ivanov, 23, Norayr Davtyan, 22, Armen Simonyan, 19, and Gregory Melnikov, 23, The Evening Standard reported Tuesday.

The Sun tabloid said the four were bound for London's Bellerbys College. Education there costs £30,000 ($49,000) a year, according to the Daily Mail.

The victim, an 18-year-old Malaysian woman headed for the same college, said in the courtroom that she believes she was drugged at a party thrown by the suspects in January.

She lost consciousness and could not offer resistance when she came to her senses during the 2 1/2-hour assault, she said.

The four defendants pleaded not guilty, claiming the woman had consented to sex. One of them testified against her during the trial with a string of expletives, at one point calling her a "machine for [expletive]."

But the cell phone video showed that one suspect noted the woman was crying and expressed pity for her, The Evening Standard said.

The four men used threats to try to intimidate the victim into silence after the incident, but she complained to police, who confiscated an iPhone with the recording as well as a video of the defendants boasting of their plans the night before the incident.

The four defendants were given between eight and 10 years in prison, the Daily Mail reported. It was unclear whether they could be extradited to Russia, judicial news agency Rapsi said.

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