Former monk Tim Sakhorn returns to Phnom Den, seeks help to stay in Cambodia

Monday, April 06, 2009
KI-Media

“I have to go back [to Vietnam]. They will arrest me. I am so sad.” - Former monk Tim Sakhorn

Reporters from The Cambodia Daily indicated that they spoke with former monk Tim Sakhorn, the former abbot of Phnom Den North pagoda. Tim Sakhorn said that after he was defrocked by force on 30 June 2007, he was placed into a car that drove him all the way to An Giang province in Vietnam without stopping. He also spoke about the hardship of his stay in Vietnam and he insisted that he did not want to stay in Vietnam, but rather in Cambodia.

On Saturday 04 April 2009, Tim Sakhorn said that he was surprised that Vietnam allowed him to travel to Cambodia to participate in his mother’s funeral ceremony. However, he is now traveling with a Vietnamese passport as his Cambodian papers were confiscated from him. His visa allows him to stay in Cambodia until April 17. Prior to his departure from Vietnam, Tim Sakhorn indicated that Vietnamese police forced him to write a letter promising not to criticize the Vietnamese and Cambodian authorities during his stay in Cambodia.

The Cambodia Daily reported that, following his release from his one year jail in Vietnam, Tim Sakhorn has been placed under virtual house arrest with two Vietnamese police officers stationing at his home. He indicated also that after his release, Vietnamese authorities took him on a tour of Hanoi and other provinces, most likely to entice him to settle in Vietnam. Every time, the Vietnamese authorities asked if he wanted to stay in Vietnam, Tim Sakhorn would tell them “NO.”

While he claimed that he was not physically abused in Vietnam, he said that tacit intimidation is not uncommon and he was forced to write several letters promising that he would return back to Vietnam.

On Saturday night, The Cambodia Daily reported that Tim Sakhorn and his siblings observed Cambodian police patrolling their home. Tim Sakhorn called on rights group, foreign embassies and the UN to help intervene in this case so that he can stay in Cambodia. However, he indicated that when his options are exhausted, he will return back to Vietnam … with reluctance. “I have to go back. They will arrest me. I am so sad,” Tim Sakhorn was quoted by the Cambodia Daily as saying.