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An outspoken Russian dissident accused of downloading more than 20,000 indecent images of children told police they looked like they "enjoyed" being sexually abused, a court heard.

Vladimir Bukovsky, 74, would "constantly" download indecent material of children, with a particular emphasis on young boys, over a 15 year period, the court heard.

Prosecutor William Carter told the jury of eight men and four women at Cambridge Crown Court he would "punch" certain terms into the internet, like "pre-teen hardcore".

He would also search "gerbys" - an acronym for German boys - and trawl through various websites for images he hadn't already downloaded, the jury heard.

"He said several of the files also involved sadomasochism," Mr Carter told the court.

(Image: Getty)

"One of the things he was curious about was whether those sort of images were real or staged.

"He concluded it was staged because the children were giggling."

The defendant, who was a close friend of murdered dissident Alexander Litvinenko, was arrested by police at his home in 2014 after officers linked his IP address with a site well known for having indecent images.

When they arrived, his computer was in the process of downloading indecent images, Mr Carter told the court.

Opening the case to, Mr Carter said: "On October 28, 2014, police officers went to his home.

"He answered the door. He was immediately arrested on suspicion of downloading and possession of indecent images of children.

"Mr Bukovsky responded immediately by saying that he did indeed download movies.

"They would be in the computer in his study. He said that he lived alone.

"Occasionally friends might come to stay with him but he certainly didn't say that anybody else may be responsible for the possession of such material."

(Image: Getty)

Following his arrest, the dissident - who was kicked out of the Soviet Union after protesting against the communist regime for more than a decade in 1976 - was taken to Parkside police station in Cambridge.

Mr Carter said: "In essence, Mr Bukovsky did not see what harm he was doing.

"So far as the children were concerned, it looked to him as though they were enjoying themselves."

Bukovsky told officers that he was the only one who had access to the material and he hadn't told anyone about its existence.

Mr Carter revealed that the downloading was pretty constant, but that there were peaks in 1999, 2004, 2010 on his machines.

In his defence, Bukovsky told police that he became aware of indecent images of children online in the late 1990s.

He said that he began his "research" into the images after a becoming interested in the debate surrounding the issue of censorship on the internet.

(Image: Google Street View)

Mr Carter said: "His initial curiosity turned into a hobby rather like stamp-collecting."

He explained that the defendant is seen by many as a "hero" in Russia for wanting to extend the democratic rights.

However, Mr Carter said: "The prosecution say that there was another side to this man which was from from laudable - an extensive interest in real children really being abused."

In total, he is accused of five counts of making an indecent photograph of a child, five counts of possession of indecent photographs of children and one count of possessing a prohibited image of a child.

Throughout the hearing the wheelchair-bound defendant sat motionless with a hearing loop on.

The trial continues and is expected to last five days.