$8,000 buy freedom from 15-year jail sentence in Cambodia

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.”

Retiree paid to get Danish woman out of Cambodian jail

Monday, 29 March 2010
The Copenhagen Post (Denmark)

Man who paid Cambodian authorities to release Danish woman from jail has done the same before

When Johanne Vinther Axelsen was released from a jail in Phomn Penh last week, no one knew why the Cambodian authorities suddenly allowed the move.

What appeared to be the prospect of 15 years in prison instead turned into a sudden trip home for the Danish woman on Thursday, who had been charged with illegally sending pills to the US.

In early 2008, Axelsen sent 53 packets of more than 10,000 headache pills containing codeine and valium to her son in the US. The son, Niels Eikeland, had evidently told her that the shipment was perfectly legal.

But now it has come out that retiree Mikkel Hass paid 40,000 kroner of his own money to get Cambodian police to let Axelsen go. Axelsen herself was unable to pay the sum, and the Danish authorities – who had negotiated on her behalf for her release – were unwilling to do so.

But it isn’t the first time Hass has dipped into his own pockets to get a Danish prisoner released from overseas.

In October of last year, Hass paid 20,000 kroner to Thai authorities for the release of James Christensen, who was being held for alleged arson.

Hass told Berlingske Tidende newspaper that more people should be willing to help Danes in similar situations.

‘If you have the money and you’re deciding whether to buy a boat or make a difference in someone’s life, what’s the best choice?’ Hass asked rhetorically. ‘I personally have no doubts about that.’

Dane Sentenced To 15 Years In Prison In Cambodia

2009-01-15
ScandAsia.Denmark

A Cambodian court Thursday sentenced a Danish woman to 15 years in prison for allegedly trying to mail thousands of over-the-counter painkillers out of the country.

Johanne Axelexen Vinther, 45, was arrested at a post office in the capital Phnom Penh last year as she tried to send 10,761 tablets containing codeine in packages to the U.S. and Canada.

The drugs can be easily bought at street-side pharmacies throughout Phnom Penh, but are restricted in most Western countries.

Chhay Kong, a judge at Phnom Penh Municipal Court, said Vinther was guilty of drug trafficking and sentenced her to 15 years in jail.

The judge also ordered Vinther to pay a fine of $7,500.

Chhay Kong also sentenced a 28-year-old son of Vinther in absentia to 15 years behind bars and ordered him to pay a fine of the same amount.

Vinther denied she smuggled the drug, calling the verdict against her and her son "unjust."

"I did not commit any crimes. They (judges) don't even know what codeine is. They compare it to heroin. It was never heroin. It is not a hard drug," she said after the court hearing.

"It is something for the pain - painkillers."

Vinther said she would appeal against the verdict within a month and would even seek a "royal pardon" from Cambodia's King Norodom Sihamoni.

Impoverished Cambodia is becoming an increasingly popular trafficking point for methamphetamines and heroin, particularly since neighboring Thailand toughened its stance against illegal drugs in 2002.

However, arrests for violations involving pharmaceuticals are much less common.