<p>THE HAGUE, Netherlands — A Dutch court convicted five teens Tuesday for their involvement in the fatal beating of a 73-year-old man in what they described as a “pedophile hunt.”</p>
<p>“By acting as their own judge, the boys seriously violated the rule of law,” Gelderland Court said in a statement. “With this crime, they caused unrest and insecurity in society.”</p>
<p>The death of the retired teacher in October last year in the city of Arnhem led to an outpouring of anger and grief among friends and former pupils.</p>
<p>The youths, whose identities were not released, were given sentences ranging from six months to a year in juvenile detention. Their ages ranged from 15 to 19 years.</p>
<p>Two were sentenced to a year, with half of the sentences suspended; three more were given six-month suspended sentences and ordered to perform 200 hours of unpaid community work. They also were ordered to pay some 60,000 euros ($72,000) in damages to the victim’s three sons.</p>
<p>The convictions followed a number of similar attacks in which youths made contact with men they suspected were pedophiles in chat rooms and then attacked them.</p>
<p>“What the suspects have done is act as their own judge,” the court said in its written judgment. “They lured somebody, decided themselves that the person was a ‘pedo,’ that he therefore should be punished and they immediately meted out the punishment.” </p>
<p>The court cited text messages that made clear that the victim, a former teacher, had said that he did not want to meet a 15-year-old boy because that was “too young.”</p>
