Sunday, August 23, 2009

Two French men held on underage sex charges in Cambodia

Sat, 22 Aug 2009
DPA

Phnom Penh - Two French nationals were questioned at a Phnom Penh court on Saturday on charges of soliciting sex from a minor and producing child pornography. Both crimes carry the possibility of lengthy jail sentences. The head of the municipal police's anti-trafficking department, Keo Thea, said both men would be charged by the court on Sunday.

"They were questioned today on the first charge of having sex with a 16-year-old girl and on the second charge of making child pornography," Keo Thea said.

The men, named by the Cambodia Daily newspaper as 62-year-old Michel Jean Raymond Charlot and 60-year-old Claude Jean-Pierre Demeret, were arrested after Charlot solicited a 16-year-old at a well-known red-light district in Phnom Penh and brought her back to his guesthouse.

The girl then told the police about Demeret.

Police searched the room at the guesthouse where Demeret was staying and found a collection of sexually explicit videos and photographs of him, most of which the police said were taken in Thailand.

A search of Charlot's room uncovered a collection of similar photographs and videos.

Keo Thea earlier told national media that their arrests were a significant success for the police.

"[Demeret] confessed that he had actually taken a lot more pictures in Thailand than in Cambodia," Keo Thea told the Cambodia Daily, adding that police believed the images were made for commercial purposes rather than, as the men had claimed, their own entertainment.

Police said evidence against the men included children's underwear and toys, as well as dozens of videos of the suspects and numerous sexually explicit photographs of the men with what police believe are children in Thailand.

Cambodia has long been seen as an easy place for foreigners to procure sex with minors, which under Cambodian law that combats sexual exploitation is anyone under the age of 18. In recent years the authorities have cracked down on the problem.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

if it is illegal in their own country, i wonder what make them think it's ok to do that in cambodia? go figure! that's why they always get in trouble with the law in cambodia because they don't learn about the cambodia law, etc... didn't their embassies educate them on that?

Anonymous said...

It is good that the Cambodian government punish those foreigners who commit such crime. What I want to see more is that the government must also punish the Cambodian officials who have committed similiar crimes.

Anonymous said...

Put him in jail for 150 years...or cut off his penis!!

Anonymous said...

Good one 4:46AM! Cambodian government must also punish all cambodian high drunken officials that commited similiar crimes to under age khmer girl/boy in cambodia these days....

Anonymous said...

I urged our cambodian authority and police to investigate or search Ah CHAB CHEN'S HOUSE! this stupid comedian guy and his friends paid money to some poor street boy to have sex with them for experimental....



former staff inside cambodian dept of interior reported...

Anonymous said...

national origin shouldn't matter when it comes to committing crime like this. everyone did crime would be arrested and fined and jailed, etc...! no exception!

Anonymous said...

2:13 AM!

Can you clarify me about who are you taking about? It is interesting to me.

Anonymous said...

hahahaha fuck those old sorry ass french bastards. They thought their moneys can do anything they want.

Anonymous said...

This appears to be a case of selective enforcement. For one thing there are hundreds of such establishments in Phnom Penh alone and those are frequented by Khmers and foreigners alike. The fact that she was 16 years old is not the violation of Cambodian law but sex for money is. A foreigner from the U.S. can be prosecuted by US courts if the girl is under the age of 18 even if it occurs in another country.