By Agencies

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A Portuguese court has found seven people guilty of crimes relating to child sex abuse at a state orphanage, wrapping up a major trial that lasted nearly six years.

Giving their first findings, judges said that repeated sexual abuse of children at Casa Pia, a state-run home in Lisbon, the Portuguese capital, had been proved, as they read out their verdict on Friday.

Miguel Matias, the chief prosecutor, told the AP news agency that the defendants, comprising six men and one woman, were found guilty of sexually abusing minors and adolescents, raping children and running a paedophile ring.

The alleged crimes against 32 children at the orphanage took place during the 1990s.

The court, which is still to set out details of the convictions, is due to hand down sentences later on Friday.

'Special evenings'

Only one of the defendants, Carlos Silvino, a former driver and gardener at Casa Pia, has admitted guilt for the crimes, with the others insisting they are innocent.

Silvino confessed to more than 600 charges of child sexual abuse as well as aggravated rape and procuring minors for wealthy clients.

The defendants, which include Carlos Cruz, a popular TV presenter and producer, Jorge Ritto, a former diplomat, two doctors, a former Casa Pia director and Silvino, are accused of around 900 crimes in total.

The weekly newspaper Expresso broke the story in late 2002 when it reported that a driver at Casa Pia had been abusing children at the institution for years.

Other residents and former residents then came forward to tell of rapes and "special evenings".

During the trial, which began in 2004, the court heard from nearly 1,000 witnesses and experts in 460 court sessions - figures that have led many to say that it exposes the slowness and inefficiency of the Portuguese courts.

Prosecutors have called for a minimum sentence of five years.

Casa Pia is a 230-year-old institution, caring for roughly 4,500 needy children, most of them living in dormitories at its premises around the capital.

Claims that a paedophile ring had preyed on children at the state institution for years rocked the public's faith in the authorities, who appeared unable to protect the most vulnerable members of society.