KKHRO: General Hing Bun Heang’s bodyguards car was used to whisk defrocked Monk Tim Sakhorn away, he has since disappeared

KKHRO claimed that defrocked Khmer Krom monk Tim Sakhorn was whisked away in Hing Bun Heang's bodyguards car. Monk Tim Sakhorn's whereabout is unknown since then. Lieutenant General Hing Bun Heang (above ) is the commander of Hun Sen's Bodyguard Unit. (Photo: Global Witness)

Fate of defrocked Khmer Krom monk is still unknown

01 July 2007
By Khim Sarang Radio Free Asia
Translated from Khmer by Heng Soy

The Khmer Kampuchea-Krom Human Rights Organization (KKHRO) calls on national and international organizations, and foreign ambassadors and foreign embassies in Cambodia, to help intervene to protect the safety of Khmer Krom Abbot Tim Sakhorn who was defrocked by force and has since disappeared. It is not known whether he was sent back to Vietnam or he is still in Cambodia.

According to a statement issued by the KKHRO received by RFA today, a request was sent by patriarch Non Nget to supreme patriarch Tep Vong to defrock Monk Tim Sakhorn, the abbot of the Phnom Den North pagoda, located in Kirivong district, Takeo province. The monk was accused of turning the pagoda into a propaganda center to break the friendship between Cambodia and Vietnam.

Prak Saran, Adhoc human rights official in Takeo province, said on Sunday about this event: “He was ordained and studied in this pagoda, he never went out to make propaganda or incite Khmer Kampuchea Krom people to oppose Vietnam. He never did that. Buddhist members of the pagoda said that he never did that. Furthermore, I asked whether Monk Tim Sakhorn ever met with Khmer Krom people or not? They told me the meetings (did occur and that they) are normal simply because all the members of the pagoda are from Kampuchea Krom (South Vietnam) and they came to live in Cambodia, therefore, he used to provide foods to people who asked to stay at the pagoda once in a while, and also to visitors to the pagoda. This morning, between 9 and 10 AM, the police force and the military police force led by Phon Chea, the justice deputy police chief in Takeo province, came to search the Phnom Den North pagoda where Monk Tim Sakhorn resides. I asked the court prosecutor, but he said that he cannot tell us anything because the search was being conducted. He said that after the search, he will hand the case to the police.”

Prak Saran also raised the issue of the defrocking of Monk Tim Sakhorn: “He (Monk Tim Sakhorn) was defrocked at Tanaram pagoda in Takeo province, it’s the pagoda where the provincial monk chief resides, and the monk chief was the one who defrocked Monk Tim Sakhorn. KKHRO followed the case at the Tanaram pagoda. Shortly after Monk Tim Sakhorn was brought in, he was seen taken out in blue civilian clothes, and he was put into the car belonging to the bodyguards of General Hing Bun Heang (the commander of Hun Sen’s bodyguard unit). This is what the KKHRO official saw at the (Tanaram) pagoda. The car was driven out of the pagoda, but it was not known where it was taken to. Monk Tim Sakhorn has since disappeared and his mother does not know where her son was taken to.”