PRAGUE: Former Czech boxing champion Ludovit Plachetka was sentenced to eight years in prison for rape, justice authorities said. A court in the eastern Czech city of Brno found Plachetka guilty of the July 2011 rape of the 20-year-old sister of his girlfriend.

The 41-year-old boxer stood trial after being arrested in Britain and brought home to face Czech justice. Plachetka already has a criminal record. In 1998, he received a 13-year sentence for murdering his then-girlfriend's mother and for the attempted murder of his girlfriend. The latter only survived because Plachetka's gun jammed, a court ruled at the time.

Plachetka was released from prison in 2007 after serving nine years behind bars and attempted a comeback. Boxrec only has two pro bouts recorded, which the boxer won in December 2010 and April 2011. Besides earning three Czech middleweight titles before his first spell in prison, he was also a member of his country's squad at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta.