New sex offense trial begins against Tito Beltran

To see international photos, click here

SWEDEN.- The Swedish court of Appeals has initiated a new trial today against Chilean tenor Tito Beltrán, who is charged with raping a woman and sexually molesting a child.

42 year-old Beltrán, who has resided in Sweden for two decades, was sentenced in February of this year by the Court of Ystad, located in the southern part of the country, to two years in prison for raping actress Maria Lundqvist's nanny during the "Rhapsody in Rock" tour in the summer of 1999.

In 2007 however, the Chilean tenor was found not-guilty by a court in the southern town of Varberg on charges of molesting a 7 year- old girl in 2000, although the Public Prosecutor's Office appealed the ruling.

The current trial has brought the charges for the two cases together so that the first three sessions will be focused on the child, while the five remaining sessions will address the other case. The trial is expected to last approximately 3 weeks.