Johanne Vinther Axelsen, 55, appears at Phnom Penh Municipal Court last year. Axelsen, who received a 15-year sentence for trafficking illegal medicines , was extradited to her native Denmark this month. (Photo by: AFP)Danish woman extradited
Monday, 29 March 2010
May Titthara
The Phnom Penh Post
A DANISH woman sentenced to 15 years in prison for mailing thousands of codeine and Valium tablets out of Cambodia last year has been extradited to her native country, a prison official confirmed Sunday.
Johanne Vinther Axelsen was extradited to Denmark March 17, according to Heng Hak, director of the prisons department at the Ministry of Interior.
The move comes 14 months after Phnom Penh Municipal Court sentenced Axelsen, 55, to a lengthy prison term on charges of drug trafficking.
In an interview with the Post last year, Axelsen said she would be allowed to return to Denmark if she paid US$20,000 – a sum she refused, she said, because she did not want “to pay any money to the corrupt court officials, who will use the money to buy a luxury house and car”.
Heng Hak confirmed that Axelsen’s extradition this month came after a cash payment, but he said he did not know the sum.
“We did not release her for free,” Heng Hak said.
“Nobody can release her without a court verdict.”
Court officials could not be reached for comment Sunday.
According to media reports, Axelsen’s extradition was secured after a Danish citizen, Mikkel Hass, agreed to donate US$8,000 in cash.
The Web site scandasia.com quoted him as saying he viewed the payment as a donation.
“I think more Danes should show empathy when other Danes are … suffering under unfair circumstances abroad,” Hass was quoted as saying.
Axelsen was convicted in January after she was caught mailing roughly 10,000 codeine and Valium tablets from Cambodia to the United States and the United Kingdom.
Axelsen told the Post at the time that she did not know it was illegal to mail the tablets. It was her son, she said, who urged her to send the shipment.
Still, she said, she held no animosity towards her son.
“I don’t blame him for anything,” she said. “I was naïve.”
Johanne Vinther Axelsen was extradited to Denmark March 17, according to Heng Hak, director of the prisons department at the Ministry of Interior.
The move comes 14 months after Phnom Penh Municipal Court sentenced Axelsen, 55, to a lengthy prison term on charges of drug trafficking.
In an interview with the Post last year, Axelsen said she would be allowed to return to Denmark if she paid US$20,000 – a sum she refused, she said, because she did not want “to pay any money to the corrupt court officials, who will use the money to buy a luxury house and car”.
Heng Hak confirmed that Axelsen’s extradition this month came after a cash payment, but he said he did not know the sum.
“We did not release her for free,” Heng Hak said.
“Nobody can release her without a court verdict.”
Court officials could not be reached for comment Sunday.
According to media reports, Axelsen’s extradition was secured after a Danish citizen, Mikkel Hass, agreed to donate US$8,000 in cash.
The Web site scandasia.com quoted him as saying he viewed the payment as a donation.
“I think more Danes should show empathy when other Danes are … suffering under unfair circumstances abroad,” Hass was quoted as saying.
Axelsen was convicted in January after she was caught mailing roughly 10,000 codeine and Valium tablets from Cambodia to the United States and the United Kingdom.
Axelsen told the Post at the time that she did not know it was illegal to mail the tablets. It was her son, she said, who urged her to send the shipment.
Still, she said, she held no animosity towards her son.
“I don’t blame him for anything,” she said. “I was naïve.”
8 comments:
hey, it's called bail bonds. they have them too in america, people who are charged can bail bond to free themselves, however, they still have to go to court, though. and also, don't forget too that even jailed people, if they did their time and repent themselves while in jail and did good things, they probably changed; that too is reformed and can free themselves. you have to understand the whole process before yelling, cursing and screaming like an ignorant person! keep in mind that there is always an exception to the rule in life with anything anywhere, really! if you can't understand the exception to the rule, you are probably brain dead and study to further your education about it,ok! good action or good people is always given the benefit of the doubt in the first place, at least! be smart about it all, ok!
Cambodian judges, you are the most degusting men in the world, you're not human, you're just beast.
The swearing-in is a sacred ceremony to all government officials before they get into office. I wonder if all government officials are still under oath. If so, why are most of them so corrupt thses days? If not, most of them must have denied the sacred oath they swore.
For Lord Buddha's sake,they should consider the Buddhist doctrines as a solid foundation of the sacred oath, and stop practicing corruption in all ministries. Please don't despise the sacred oath, or for sure be struck by lightning.
Democratic Kampuchea Pol Pot Khmer Rouge Regime
Members:
Pol Pot
Nuon Chea
Ieng Sary
Ta Mok
Khieu Samphan
Son Sen
Ieng Thearith
Kaing Kek Iev
Hun Sen
Chea Sim
Heng Samrin
Hor Namhong
Keat Chhon
Ouk Bunchhoeun
Sim Ka...
Committed:
Tortures
Brutality
Executions
Massacres
Mass Murder
Genocide
Atrocities
Crimes Against Humanity
Starvations
Slavery
Force Labour
Overwork to Death
Human Abuses
Persecution
Unlawful Detention
Cambodian People's Party Hun Sen Khmer Rouge Regime
Members:
Hun Sen
Chea Sim
Heng Samrin
Hor Namhong
Keat Chhon
Ouk Bunchhoeun
Sim Ka...
Committed:
Attempted Murders
Attempted Murder on Chea Vichea
Attempted Assassinations
Attempted Assassination on Sam Rainsy
Assassinations
Assassinated Journalists
Assassinated Political Opponents
Assassinated Leaders of the Free Trade Union
Assassinated over 80 members of Sam Rainsy Party.
"But as of today, over eighty members of my party have been assassinated. Countless others have been injured, arrested, jailed, or forced to go into hiding or into exile."
Sam Rainsy LIC 31 October 2009 - Cairo, Egypt
Executions
Executed over 100 members of FUNCINPEC Party
Murders
Murdered 3 Leaders of the Free Trade Union
Murdered Chea Vichea
Murdered Ros Sovannareth
Murdered Hy Vuthy
Murdered Journalists
Murdered Khim Sambo
Murdered Khim Sambo's son
Murdered members of Sam Rainsy Party.
Murdered activists of Sam Rainsy Party
Murdered Innocent Men
Murdered Innocent Women
Murdered Innocent Children
Killed Innocent Khmer Peoples.
Extrajudicial Execution
Grenade Attack
Terrorism
Drive by Shooting
Brutalities
Police Brutality Against Monks
Police Brutality Against Evictees
Tortures
Intimidations
Death Threats
Threatening
Human Abductions
Human Abuses
Human Rights Abuses
Human Trafficking
Drugs Trafficking
Under Age Child Sex
Corruptions
Bribery
Embezzlement
Treason
Border Encroachment, allow Vietnam to encroaching into Cambodia.
Signed away our territories to Vietnam; Koh Tral, almost half of our ocean territory oil field and others.
Illegal Arrest
Illegal Mass Evictions
Illegal Land Grabbing
Illegal Firearms
Illegal Logging
Illegal Deforestation
Illegally use of remote detonation bomb on Sokha Helicopter, while Hok Lundy and other military officials were on board.
Lightning strike many airplanes, but did not fall from the sky. Lightning strike out side of airplane and discharge electricity to ground.
Source: Lightning, Discovery Channel
Illegally Sold State Properties
Illegally Removed Parliamentary Immunity of Parliament Members
Plunder National Resources
Acid Attacks
Turn Cambodia into a Lawless Country.
Oppression
Injustice
Steal Votes
Bring Foreigners from Veitnam to vote in Cambodia for Cambodian People's Party.
Use Dead people's names to vote for Cambodian People's Party.
Disqualified potential Sam Rainsy Party's voters.
Abuse the Court as a tools for CPP to send political opponents and journalists to jail.
Abuse of Power
Abuse the Laws
Abuse the National Election Committee
Abuse the National Assembly
Violate the Laws
Violate the Constitution
Violate the Paris Accords
Impunity
Persecution
Unlawful Detention
Death in custody.
Under the Cambodian People's Party Hun Sen Khmer Rouge Regime, no criminals that has been committed crimes against journalists, political opponents, leaders of the Free Trade Union, innocent men, women and children have ever been brought to justice.
My dear 11:33PM,
As far as I can see, nobody posted anything to say bad thing about this case yet. Somehow you you started to defend the cambodian court right away. Can you tell us about your connection to the court? I don't really care who paid what as long at the payment went into the state treasury. In case of Cambodia, I doubt very much that the state will see a penny. Why am I so pessimistic? The answer is quite siple: corruption is the no. 1 rule of games in Cambodia.
I agree totally with 3.15AM. No one ever begrudges the proper payment and receipt of money into/out of state treasury. But the cambodian treasury has been replenished by donors and charities from all over the world for the last 2 decades at least. Yet it is still empty, while the elites, whose wives are "good at business" keep getting richer and richer. I am sure that the $8,000 that Mr Haas paid will get split between the various court officials and little, if any, will see the inside of the treasury's vault. It is sickening to think the country that my father died fighting to protect has become so cruel, so lacking in self-pride, so dependent on others.
@6:48 AM Are you sure you father died fighting in Cambodia, or he just choked to death from swallowing coconut thru his anus?
someone should kidnap these court people they are stake with cash.
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