Talking to the Trees - trailer

http://vimeo.com/40450799

Synopsis: A middle-class Parisian woman embarks on a quest to rescue the child her husband has abused from a Cambodian brothel and return her to her family in the jungle.

Mia (Ilaria Borrelli) a beautiful and successful Paris based photographer, bored by her bourgeois existence, flies out to Cambodia to surprise her timber trader husband Xavier (Philippe Caroit) in order for them to create the baby she longs for.

On arrival, Mia misses Xavier at the hotel. Seeing him being driven down the road, she quickly follows. But her hope for a romantic welcome are dashed when she finds herself in seedy part of town and spies her husband in a brothel having sex with an eleven year-old girl, Srey. Stunned, Mia collapses in a state of shock.

Mia, her world now turned upside down, resolves to rescue Srey and return her to her remote village and the family from whom she was abducted. With insufficient cash to buy Srey’s freedom, Mia strikes a repulsive bargain with Sanan the brothel owner and sacrifices her own body to the General, Sanan’s high-powered client, in order to liberate the little girl.

Pardoned pedophiles still roam free despite petition

Dutch pedophile Rene Paul Martin Aubel during his arrest in a rented room in Phnom Penh in June 2004. Photo Supplied

Wednesday, 25 January 2012
Vincent MacIsaac
The Phnom Penh Post

The child-protection groups that petitioned Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Sar Kheng last month to have convicted pedophile Alexander Trofimov deported following his controversial release from prison are still waiting for a decision, the director of one of the 14 national and international NGOs that signed the petition said yesterday.

Samleang Seila, director of Action Pour les Enfants, said he believed that the deputy premier will eventually deport the Russian national, whose release from Preah Sihanouk provincial prison via a royal pardon on December 20 sparked outrage.

“I believe the government will deport Trofimov into police custody in Russia, although the process is quite slow,” he told the Post. The petition was sent to the deputy premier’s office on December 30 and about one week later it was forwarded to the Cambodian National Police for advice, Samleang Seila said, adding that the police had returned it to Sar Kheng last week with their advice.

The US agents tracking down sex tourists in Cambodia

US agents rely on locals to provide information about suspect Americans

Agent Vansak Suos was once a conscripted boy soldier in Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge army

29 January 2011
By David Henshaw
BBC News

As part of an initiative to protect children from sexual predators, including those who travel overseas, special US agents operating in South East Asia have brought more than 80 alleged child sex tourists back to America to face justice.

Sihanoukville looks like paradise, or at least a decent, low-rent version. Golden beaches, swaying palm trees, cheap alcohol and shimmering sea.

Retired American pharmacist Ronald Adams had come here for the good life - setting up a beachside cafe. But one morning last February Adams' personal vision of paradise was shattered, when officers from the Cambodian National Police raided his apartment.

They found a collection of sex aids, child pornography on DVDs and a variety of illegal drugs. Adams was accused of drugging and raping a 12-year-old girl.

Kent man sentenced for sexual exploitation of Cambodian children

December 10, 2010
Posted by John de Leon
Seattle Times

A Kent man was sentenced Friday to 15 years in prison for having sex with underage girls in Cambodia, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office in Seattle.

According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, Craig Carr, 59, used the Internet to contact someone in Cambodia who agreed to find girls for Carr to have sex with during a visit to the country. Carr paid the individual approximately $8,000 for sex with the girls during a week-long trip to Cambodia. Carr reportedly told the person arranging the sexual encounters that he wanted the girls to be about 12 years old, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.

Carr traveled from Seattle to Phnom Penh on Jan. 13. When he was arrested nine days later he admitted that he had sex with three young girls during his stay in Cambodia, the U.S. Attorney's Office said. His camera contained pictures of three young victims. Two of the victims have been located, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Carr pleaded guilty to sexual exploitation of a child in July in U.S. District Court in Seattle.

Former RUC chief exposes child sex tourism on US TV

Jim Gamble

Monday, 15 November 2010
Belfast Telegraph (Ireland)

The former head of Special Branch in Belfast and the host of US TV show America's Most Wanted posed as paedophiles to investigate the sex trafficking of Cambodian youngsters.

Jim Gamble, ex-chief executive of the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (Ceop), and John Walsh said they were shocked when they went into a Cambodian bar where there were 50 to 60 girls.

“Within two minutes a madam came up to us and said ‘What are you looking for?' and Jim said, ‘We're looking for young girls'. She brought over three or four girls that were (about) 12 or 13 years old — very, very young,” said Mr Walsh.

Mr Gamble told her they wanted younger girls, Mr Walsh said.

He said the woman replied: “What do you want? We have six and seven-year-old boys and girls. I can arrange that off-premises.”

Mr Walsh said the experience was “disgusting and heartbreaking.”

He said Western paedophiles from the US, Britain and Germany travelled east to Cambodia as international sex tourists. He said his show chose Cambodia because it was cheap to buy a sex slave there.

“I saw many Western men that had gone there, not to go to the Buddhist temples, not to go to look at beaches, not to do anything at all but to molest and have sex with children. It's wrong, it's illegal and it has to change,” Mr Walsh said.

He said the episode would be a “tough show to watch” but it was important to expose the reality that children were sexually assaulted by predators — many of whom were from the US.

So far the show has captured 1,135 criminals in its 24 seasons.

America's Most Wanted is shown on primetime on Saturday nights in the US on Fox.

Senior police officer Mr Gamble, the former head of Northern Ireland's anti-terror unit, resigned from Ceop in October over the government's decision to make it part of the National Crime Agency.

'America’s Most Wanted' and Irish cop team up in pedophile hunt

Former top officer and John Walsh hit Cambodia

November 16, 2010
By DARA KELLY
IrishCentral.com Staff Writer

Jim Gamble, the former head of the Northern Irish Police Special Branch posed as a pedophile to investigate the sex trafficking of Cambodian children, for the American TV show “America’s Most Wanted”.

Gamble, the ex-chief executive of the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP) and "America's Most Wanted" host, John Walsh were "heartbroken and disgusted" when they witnessed a Cambodian bar that hosted between 50 to 60 girls.

Appearing on "America's Most Wanted", which is broadcast on Saturday nights, the shocking scenes that unfold show just how easy it is to pay for sex with an underage girl.

Within two minutes of entering a Cambodian brothel, a madam approached Gamble to ask what he was looking for? When he replied young girls she brought over three or four girls that were estimated to be about 12 or 13 years old.

Playing along however Gamble told her they wanted younger girls. The madam replied: “What do you want? We have six and seven-year-old boys and girls. I can arrange that off-premises.”

Western pedophiles from the United States, Britain and Germany are now known to be traveling east to Cambodia as international sex tourists. They choose Cambodia, Gamble told the press, because it was cheap to buy a sex slave there.

Walsh said "I saw many Western men that had gone there, not to go to the Buddhist temples, not to go to look at beaches, not to do anything at all but to molest and have sex with children. It's wrong, it's illegal and it has to change.”

The resultant TV episode is being described as a tough show to watch but Gamble insists it's crucial to expose the reality that children are being sexually assaulted by predators, many of whom were from the US.

Video Clips from AMW On the Road Cambodia

Former UK Government adviser Arrested In Cambodia On Child Sex Charges [-Paid £3,000 for Child Sex]

He is alleged to have paid the mother of one of the children £3,000 for a week-long sex contract. Leach appeared at Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Thursday where he was charged along with the 40-year-old mother of one of the children.

Sep 12 2010
By Thomas Carlin
The People (UK)

This is the dramatic moment that former senior Government policy adviser Michael Leach was arrested for allegedly having sex with three children in Cambodia.

Leach, 50, who worked closely with Ministers at the Department of Trade and Industry, sits in handcuffs at the end of a double bed while a detective reassures two of the alleged victims, girls aged 10 and 12. The third girl is 15.

Londoner Leach who once attended a Commonwealth Summit with Labour Minister for Energy Stephen Timms was seized last Sunday at a guesthouse about 15 miles outside the capital Phnom Penh.

He is alleged to have paid the mother of one of the children £3,000 for a week-long sex contract. Leach appeared at Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Thursday where he was charged along with the 40-year-old mother of one of the children.

A 46-year-old taxi driver who allegedly helped arrange for Leach to have sex with the girls was also arrested, along with the 45-year-old guesthouse owner.

The People has learned that Leach represented Britain at trade fares across the globe and worked as a senior adviser at the Department of Trade specialising in international telecommunications {until 2005.

That year he was arrested in Phnom Penh and held in custody for 10 hours on suspicion of sexually abusing five youngsters at a run-down orphanage called the Lighthouse. He was released without charge. He returned to Britain in 2006 and joined the communications watchdog OFCOM.

He was OFCOM's representative at a major European conference that year.

His latest arrest follows an investigation lasting several days by Cambodia's juvenile protection unit.

Cops believe he handed over thousands of dollars for a week-long sex contract.

He was followed out of a bar in the town and allegedly seen by undercover investigators buying children's underpants and sweets before going back to the guesthouse where he was arrested.

Leach had allegedly been staying in the room with the two youngest girls for six days.

Major Keo Thea, director of the municipal Anti-Human Trafficking and Juvenile Protection Unit, told The People: Leach is under primary charges of purchasing child prostitution, while the other three face primary charges of being accomplices to the purchase of child prostitution.

Cambodia-based child {protection group Action Pour Les Enfants want Cambodian authorities to send Leach back to Britain to face trial for his alleged offences.

Under Section 72 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003, a person can be prosecuted in the UK for child sex offences committed overseas.

But Britain does not have an extradition treaty with Cambodia.

Christine Beddoe, director of child protection agency ECPAT UK, said: We would like to see the police and CPS working with their Cambodian counterparts to identify what legal measures could be used to bring Leach back to the UK and tried in a British court if that is what the Cambodian's want.

Nearly 40 Westerners have been arrested in Cambodia in the last year for alleged child sex offences.

Norwegian jailed in Cambodia on child sex charges

Tuesday, September 07, 2010
AFP

SIEM REAP, Cambodia — A Cambodian court on Tuesday jailed a 63-year-old Norwegian man for 18 months on charges of paying for sex with a teenage boy in Siem Reap, the country's northwestern tourist hub.

Sletten Rolf was arrested in January in the province -- home to the famed Angkor Wat temples -- for soliciting paid sex with a 16-year-old boy in 2009.

The provincial court sentenced Rolf to three years in prison, but ordered half the term to be suspended. Cambodia's age of consent is 15 but all payment for sex is illegal.

Cambodia has struggled to shed its reputation as a haven for paedophiles, putting dozens of foreigners in jail for child sex crimes or deporting them to face trial in their home countries since 2003.

Briton arrested in Cambodia on child sex

September 6, 2010
AFP

A 50-year-old British man has been arrested for a second time in Cambodia on suspicion of sexually abusing underage girls, one as young as 11, police said on Monday.

Michael Julian Leach, from London, was arrested at a guesthouse near Phnom Penh on Sunday, said Keo Thea, chief of the capital's anti-human-trafficking and juvenile protection unit.

"Police had followed him from Phnom Penh because we knew in advance that he would go to find children in Kandal province," he told AFP.

Leach, in Cambodia as a tourist, was being held for allegedly soliciting sex from two girls aged 11 and 13, Keo Thea said, adding that three Cambodian people were also arrested for procuring the girls.

Leach was first arrested in Cambodia 2005 - when he was working as a doctor at a children's organisation - for allegedly having sex with three underage girls, police said.

He was freed after the court dropped charges against him, citing a lack of evidence.

Dozens of foreigners have been jailed for child sex crimes or deported to face trial in their home countries since Cambodia launched an anti-paedophilia push in 2003 in a bid to shake off its reputation as a haven for sex predators.

Alleged 'sex tourist' faces trial in L.A. federal court

August 3, 2010
Shelby Grad
L.A. Now (California, USA)

A man accused of being a "sex tourist" in Cambodia will face a September trial in federal court, officials said.

Michael James Dodd, 59, was brought from Cambodia to Los Angeles in February. If convicted, he could face up to 30 years in federal prison.

Dodd taught English in Cambodia, had sex with a 14-year-old girl and was seen with her on several occasions in the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh, according to an affidavit for arrest filed in federal court.

In 2002, Dodd pleaded guilty in Saipan to five counts of sexual abuse of a child after he was accused of inappropriately touching 13 female students at an elementary school where he taught, an FBI agent said in the affidavit. Dodd served time in prison and was placed on probation for 15 years.

He also faces criminal charges in Cambodia.

Agents in the FBI's Los Angeles office handled the case because they are working with the Cambodian government and nongovernmental agencies to identify and prosecute U.S. citizens who travel to that country to have sex with minors, FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller said.

Kent man pleads guilty in Cambodia child exploitation case

July 27, 2010
Posted by John de Leon
The Seattle Times

A Kent man pleaded guilty Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Seattle to sexual exploitation of a child in connection with a January trip to Cambodia where he had sex with underage girls, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Craig Carr, 59, faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years in prison, and up to 30 years in prison, when he is sentenced in October.

According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, Carr made contact over the Internet with a person in Cambodia who agreed to find girls for Carr to have sex with during a visit to the country. Carr paid the individual approximately $8,000 for sex with the girls during a week-long trip to Cambodia. Carr reportedly told the person arranging the sexual encounters that he wanted the girls to be about 12 years old.

Carr traveled from Seattle to Phnom Penh on Jan. 13. When he was arrested nine days later he admitted that he had sex with three young girls during his stay in Cambodia, the U.S. Attorney's Office said. His camera contained pictures of three young victims. Two of the victims have been located.

Cambodian court imprisons French national for sex crime

Wednesday, June 09, 2010
Associated Press

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — A French tourist has been sentenced to seven months in prison for sex with a 15-year-old Cambodian prostitute.

The Phnom Penh Municipal Court Wednesday convicted Olivier Madrieres, 48, for soliciting sex from a child prostitute and reduced an initial two-year prison term to seven months. He was also ordered to pay 3 million riel ($715) as compensation to the victim's family.

Cambodia has long been a magnet for foreign pedophiles because of poverty and corruption in law enforcement. But the country's police and courts have stepped up action against sex offenders in recent years.

Bail for sex tourist angers advocate

Thursday, May 27, 2010
CBC News (Canada)

A women's rights advocate is outraged that a Burnaby, B.C., man who pleaded guilty to sex tourism charges has been released from custody pending sentencing.

Kenneth Klassen pleaded guilty in B.C. Supreme Court May 21 to having sex with more than a dozen girls under the age of 14 in Cambodia and Colombia between 1998 and 2002.

"With all due respect to the defence attorney, it just seems like a joke," said Holly Dignard, of Caleb's Hope, an organization that works with female victims of sexual assault in developing countries.

Crown prosecutors and Klassen's lawyer discussed on Thursday the possibility of the convicted man wearing an electronic monitoring device while he remains out on bail, but the decision was deferred.

"If he was a serial murderer, I highly doubt they'd be releasing him with something around his ankle to make sure he doesn't go kill someone," Dignard said.

Under surveillance
The RCMP said that Klassen, 59, is under surveillance, and the Crown prosecutor in the case said the man had been told that police were watching him.

"He is aware of being followed," Brendan McCabe told the court.

As part of his bail conditions, Klassen had to surrender his passport to authorities, cannot be in the presence of children without permission, has to remain in B.C. and cannot be away from his residence for more than 24 hours.

Dignard said those conditions were insufficient. She has started an online petition urging the court to revoke Klassen's bail and "sentence this man to the full extent of the law."

"I find it goes back to the core issue of rape and violence against women. People don't take it seriously enough," she said.

Klassen also pleaded guilty to importing child pornography.

Arguments on Klassen's bail conditions resume on Tuesday. No date has been set for sentencing.

Sex-tourism trial halts as man pleads guilty

May 23, 2010
By Keith Fraser
The Province (Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada)

A Burnaby man has pleaded guilty in a Vancouver court to having sex with more than a dozen underage girls in Cambodia and Colombia.

Kenneth Robert Klassen also pleaded guilty in B.C. Supreme Court Friday to one count of importing child pornography in the high-profile sex-tourism case, believed to be the third such case prosecuted in Canada.

With his lawyer, Ian Donaldson, at his side, Klassen stood with his hands folded in front of him in the prisoner's dock as the criminal counts were read out.

Klassen, an international art dealer, pleaded guilty to six counts of invitation to sexual touching involving girls under the age of 14 in Colombia. The offences occurred between December 1998 and March 2002.

He also pleaded guilty to eight counts of invitation to sexual touching involving girls under the age of 14 in Cambodia in August 2001.

And he pleaded guilty to importing child pornography between August and September 2004.

The victims, who are referred to as Jane Doe numbers one to 14, cannot be identified due to a publication ban.

Klassen, a bearded, balding father of three in his 50s, appeared in court wearing brown pants, a brown jacket and a blue T-shirt.

Prosecutor Brendan McCabe is expected to seek a jail term of 12 years.

Donaldson left the court quickly with his client after the guilty pleas. He was not available later for comment.

The case began when customs officials seized a suspicious package from the Philippines containing commercial pornography. The package was picked up by Klassen, who was arrested in September 2004.

Police later seized 21 DVDs containing more than 200 images of child pornography from a Vancouver storage locker.

The lead investigator in the case, RCMP Sgt. Tom Kurucz, was present in court for the guilty pleas.

"I'm glad to see it come to an end -- obviously, a long time coming," Kurucz said outside court. "It's good to see some closure to it."

In December 2008, Supreme Court Justice Austin Cullen dismissed a constitutional challenge launched by Klassen to the so-called sex-tourism law.

Klassen, who has been free on bail, is to make his next appearance in court Thursday to set a date for sentencing.

'Dad' Who Used Cash To Lure Boys Pleads Guilty In Sex Tourism Case [in Cambodia]

Friday, May. 14 2010
By Dennis Romero
LA Weekly Blog

A 75-year-old who dropped money in a Cambodian town as a ruse to attract boys to molest pleaded guilty in Los Angeles Friday to federal sex charges as part of a plea agreement, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Jack Louis "Dad'' Sporich, a former Santa Monica resident who was expelled from Cambodia last year following the revelations of molestation, will likely face 10 years behind bars as part of the deal.

He was nabbed following operation "Twisted Traveler," a federal project to prosecute sex tourists who go to Cambodia to molest children.

An affidavit reveals that Sporich would drive a motorbike through the Cambodian town of Siem Riep and drop cash as a way to get boys to come to him. Cambodian authorities arrested him last year after two 12-year-old boys reported they had been molested.

The plea agreement would also have Sporich pay $30,000 to the two victims in order to help fund their educations.

Sentencing was scheduled for Aug. 2.

Kent man accused of having sex with Cambodian girls

May 10, 2010
The Seattle Times (Washington State, USA)

Craig Thomas Carr, 59, will appear in U.S. District Court in Seattle on Monday on allegations that he had sex with underage girls in Cambodia.

Carr was arrested by Cambodian National Police on Jan. 22 and was brought back to the U.S. by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents on May 6, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office. The charges against Carr are detailed in a five-count criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court.

Carr is charged with travel with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct, engaging in illicit sexual conduct in a foreign place and sexual exploitation of a child.

According to affidavit in the case, the investigation into Carr began in December 2009 when the Cambodian National Police, acting on information from the French National Police, learned that a taxi driver in Phnom Penh had advertised that he could connect people with child prostitutes. Carr responded to one of the Internet advertisements in November 2009 and the two men exchanged approximately 20 e-mail messages, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.

In the e-mails, Carr told the man that he wanted to have sex with girls around the age of 12, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.

Carr traveled to Cambodia on Jan. 13, authorities said. The next day, Carr met the taxi driver at his hotel and was driven to a local guest house, where he met an adult female who appeared to be managing a brothel, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Over the next week, Carr had sex with three different female juveniles, authorities said. Carr paid the man about $3,000 when he arrived in Cambodia and had made two additional payments -- of $3,000 and $1,800 -- to the adult female who allegedly operated the brothel, the U.S. Attorney's Office said. Carr also paid each young girl $20 to take sexually explicit photographs of them, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

The Cambodian National Police arrested Carr on Jan. 22. The taxi driver, who was not identified by the U.S. Attorney's Office, was also arrested by Cambodian authorities.

Norwegian man arrested in Cambodia on underage sex charges

Fri, 22 Jan 2010
DPA

Phnom Penh - A 64-year-old Norwegian man was arrested in the Cambodian tourist town of Siem Reap on suspicion of sexually abusing four boys, 11 to 14, national media reported Friday. The man was arrested Wednesday after a boy leaving the man's guesthouse told police he was paid 40 US dollars for sex, Sun Bunthorng, the provincial head of the anti-trafficking department, told the Cambodia Daily newspaper.

Sun said the case would likely go to court Friday in the tourist town, outside of which lies the famous Angkor Wat temple complex.

"It was the first case of this year in Siem Reap," he said, adding that provincial police dealt with three similar cases involving foreign nationals last year.

Samleang Seila - who heads a local non-governmental organization called APLE which combats paedophilia - said APLE began monitoring the Norwegian a year ago after he was seen in contact with several homeless children in Siem Reap.

Cambodia has struggled to rid itself of its reputation as a place where foreign tourists can engage in sex with children.

Samleang Seila said 26 foreigners were arrested on underage sex charges in Cambodia last year, twice the number of 2008. Three of the 26 were subsequently released.

He said the rise in arrests was in part because of improved policing and more foreign paedophiles visiting Cambodia.

This week, a court in the capital, Phnom Penh, sentenced Swedish citizen Johan Brahim Escori, 62, to six and a half years in jail for abusing boys as young as 9.

The judge ruled that Escori, who reportedly has a history of similar sex crimes in his native country, would be deported once he has served his sentence.

Another foreign national, US citizen Harvey Alexander Johnson, 57, is to appear in a Phnom Penh court next month on accusations of committing indecent acts with a 12-year-old girl.

Crackdown on Human Trafficking and Child Sex

11/25/2009
ShortNews.com

In Cambodia, in just two days, six people have been arrested for either human trafficking or child sex. A French tourist was arrested for sex with a 15-year-old girl. A Cambodian man (30) was arrested for raping a 9-year-old at school.

A Chinese massage parlor was raided and two Chinese nationals arrested for trafficking Chinese women into Cambodia and forcing them to work as prostitutes. Five Chinese women were freed from the parlor.

Two Cambodians have been arrested while attempting to sell two girls (16 and 18) to a brothel. Police claim that they have been working hard to apprehend the six mentioned suspects.

Source: www.phnompenhpost.com

Man arrested for child sex

Nov 23, 2009
AFP

PHNOM PENH - A FRENCHMAN has been arrested for allegedly soliciting sex with a child prostitute, Cambodian police said on Monday.

Police said they found Olivier Madrieres, 48, at a guesthouse on Saturday in the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh.

'He was arrested while he was having sex with a prostitute,' said Keo Thea, chief of the municipal anti-trafficking and juvenile police unit.

Madrieres, who arrived in Cambodia last month as a tourist, was being held on charges of soliciting sex from the 15-year-old girl and faces up to five years in jail if convicted, Mr Keo Thea said.

Cambodia has struggled to shed its reputation as a haven for paedophiles, putting dozens of foreigners in jail for child sex crimes or deporting them to face trial in their home countries since 2003.