Alexander Trofimov (L) is escorted by Prey Sar prison's police after his hearing at Phnom Penh municipal court March 11, 20008. The court charged Trofimov, a Russian businessman who is overseeing a $300 million tourism investment project with sexual abuse of a 14-year-old girl. Trofimov denied the charge and said he had never met the girl, who testified that she had been paid $100 after being abused four times. REUTERS/StringerBy Chun Sakada, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
11 March 2008
Phnom Penh Municipal Court said Tuesday it will rule Friday on whether Russian business tycoon Alexander Trofimov is guilty of debauchery, as one of Cambodia's widest-sweeping pedophile trials opened.
Trofimov, 41, denied one charge of debauchery in Phnom Penh court, where he is accused of paying for sexual acts with a 14-year-old girl. He faces similar accusations from a number of other alleged victims in Sihanoukville, where he was leading the $300-million development of Snake Island, off the southwest coast.
Trofimov said in a public hearing that lasted six hours that he was innocent of the debauchery charge, and he denied knowing the alleged victim or paying for sexual acts with her.
The girl told the court that Trofimov had four sexual encounters with her at his house in Sihanoukville.
Prosecutor Sok Kalyan said at the close of the hearing Trofimov was guilty and should pay $200,000 in compensation for the girl.
Trofimov's lawyer, Ouch Sophal, called for a re-investigation of the case, saying the evidence was not clear.
Cambodia's anti-trafficking law provides for 10 to 20 years in prison for debauchery charges.
Trofimov, 41, denied one charge of debauchery in Phnom Penh court, where he is accused of paying for sexual acts with a 14-year-old girl. He faces similar accusations from a number of other alleged victims in Sihanoukville, where he was leading the $300-million development of Snake Island, off the southwest coast.
Trofimov said in a public hearing that lasted six hours that he was innocent of the debauchery charge, and he denied knowing the alleged victim or paying for sexual acts with her.
The girl told the court that Trofimov had four sexual encounters with her at his house in Sihanoukville.
Prosecutor Sok Kalyan said at the close of the hearing Trofimov was guilty and should pay $200,000 in compensation for the girl.
Trofimov's lawyer, Ouch Sophal, called for a re-investigation of the case, saying the evidence was not clear.
Cambodia's anti-trafficking law provides for 10 to 20 years in prison for debauchery charges.
7 comments:
How is about Ah Hun Xen and all the CPP members?They did many khmers women and kill the famous actres like Piseth Paklika,Tuch Srey Nich and the other?
Hun Xen must also to the court!!!!
Ah Kheav Kanharith is the most very bad for khmer women and the youn women!!!
He must to court tooo.
Hey you can't blamed us when you get killed by our loyalists. We got no control over them. You do because all you have to do is to shut your big mouth.
A PLUS for Cambodian criminal justice: The suspect, Alexander Trofimov, was led to court in normal clothes with no handcuffs, chains and shackles on. There was respect for the presumption of his innocence.
In contrast, in Thailand, Christopher Paul Neil, who was charged with the same crime, was led to court in prisoner uniform, handcuffed, chained and shackled. To see the difference, visit, for instance, this website:
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5h_wwGwKl9m4aE-0tzJYpUkQpfGzgD8VAL9GO2).
LAO Mong Hay, Hong Kong
Dr. Lao, I think handcuff, and chain is just procedure. Without it, many of the criminals will certainly to injure many of our law enforcers, not to mention sometime prisoner attempt to attack our judge in the court room too.
PS: Oh sorry, Dr. Lao, I forgot to say also that White collar prisoner is not handled the same way as Blue collar prisoner. This is one of the thing that I hate about stupid rule of law.
Mr. 9:32AM,
I was working closely with courts of law in Cambodia for several years, but I did not hear of cases in which accused persons physically atacked escorting prison guards on the way to court or judges in court even when those accused persons were not handcuffed or chained.
If you come to know cases of attack by accused perons, please share your knowledge with me.
I have been visiting prisons as well. I agree with you that there is no equal treatment of all those in prison or in court. The way they are treated very much depends on their wealth and social status. Ask Messrs Mam Sonado, Kem Sokha and others who were arrested at the end of 2005 how they were treated compared other their fellow inmates.
Unfortunately, as a Battambang judge rightly put it at a public forum some years ago, most of accused persons were poor people. I may add that another reason for this disproportion is impunity for the rich and powerful.
According to Russian author Fyodor Dostoyesky there are two kinds of people: the ordinary people and the extraordinary people. The extraordinary people can commit crime and get away with it. The ordinary people cannot; they are under the law.
I guess the rich and powerful in Cambodia are extraordinary people. Perhaps we need to set an extraordinary tribunal like the Khmer Rouge tribunal ("Extrordianry Chamber..." (ECCC?) to try them and end impunity. The accused persons our Battambang judge talked about are just ordinary people. They cannot commit any crime and get away with it.
LAO Mong Hay, Hong Kong
Dr. Lao, I wasn't in court when the convict attempted to get to the judge. It wasn't a fatal incident or anything, but just a quick attempt. Plus, these type of thing only happened when you least expected it, and you don't want to be careless about it either. I learned about it from a few nephews of mine who is currently working as our law enforcing officers. Often, we talk about their works, what challenging incidents they encounters on their assignment..., and that is how I know about the risk of being law enforcers.
Now if you want to see some court standard procedure, just look at the picture of Sakhorn in Vietnamese court in the topic "New report criticizes the Human Rights condition in Cambodia" here. Do you know why they have two guards next to Sakhorn? I can't see his hand, but I think they are handcuffed also.
Furthermore, there is a picture of Duch ECCC hearing in the topic "First Duch Hearing Expected in July". They have guard sitting right behind him for the same reason.
Here some info on youtube.com about some incident in the US.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=2hBAlV6QHhs
As for rule of law, I am not against it. I know it can never be perfect, and I know they do the best they can. In addition, I encourage people not to push their right and to avoid court at all cost... but more importantly, I don't worship any man made things, period.
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