25 Marriages, 146 Children; Canadian Religious Leader Convicted For Polygamy

Canada: A 61-year-old man, who has 25 wives and 146 children, was convicted of polygamy on Monday for violating the country's longstanding ban.

The man Winston Blackmore was sentenced to five years in prison after being found guilty in the first real test of the country's polygamy law, enacted 127 years ago. Winston Blackmore is the leader of a polygamous group in Canada. "I’m guilty of living my religion and that's all I'm saying because I've never denied that," Blackmore told reporters after the verdict.

The Canadian sect leader was accused of practising polygamy with 25 women between 1990 and 2014 and he fathered at least 146 children. The sect has been based for nearly 60 years in the remote, mountainous region of British Columbia near the US border where the community grows, raises or hunts its own food and runs a barter economy.

Fed up with the practise, a former wife of Winston, Jane Blackmore approached court where the sect leader was found guilty. Based on the Jane's petition Justice Sheri Ann Donegan imposed 5-year imprisonment to Winston, who had practised the act which was banned a long ago.