Trofimov arrest order sends ‘strong message’ [... way too late?]

Trofimov with young Cambodian girls (Photo: The Phnom Penh Post)

Thursday, 29 March 2012
Vong Sokheng
The Phnom Penh Post

Cambodia's police finally have the green light to pursue, arrest and expel notorious Russian pedophile Alexander Trofimov, but at least some of them believe he may have already slipped over the border.

Preah Sihanouk provincial police chief Tak Vantha said police had begun searching for Trofimov after receiving an order for his arrest from the Ministry of Interior last week.

“I think that he disappeared from the province for a long time. I heard recent rumours (while investigating) that he may have escaped to Vietnam or Thailand,” Tak Vantha said.

Petition to deport pedophile Alexander Trofimov

Recently pardoned pedophile Alexander Trofimov on a jet ski with a girl and an unidentified woman off a beach near Sihanoukville. The date the photo, which was supplied to the Post by an anonymous source, was taken is unknown.

Tuesday, 03 January 2012
Post Staff
The Phnom Penh Post

A coalition of 14 international and national NGOs working to protect children in Cambodia have petitioned Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Ministry of Interior Sor Kheng, requesting that Russian pedophile Alexander Trofimov be deported from Cambodia. Trofimov, also known as Stanislav Molodyakov, is believed to be in Sihanoukville, following his controversial release from Preah Sihanouk provincial prison on December 20.

As international and local non-governmental organisations registered with the Ministry of Interior or Ministry of Foreign Affairs collaborate with the Royal Government of Cambodia in preventing, protecting and eradicating human trafficking and sexual exploitation especially of children, we are honoured to inform, Excellency, that: Alexander Trofimov, alias SASA, male, 45 – the former director of Snake Island Investment Co in Preah Sihanouk province – was arrested by Cambodian police from the Department of Anti Human Trafficking and Juvenile Protection in October 2007 on three different charges:

Criminal file No 1495 dated 05/9/2007 of Phnom Penh municipal court, involving a 13 year-old girl, under charge of debauchery; Criminal file No 328 dated 22/10/2007 of Preah Sihanouk provincial court, involving an eight-year-old girl, under charge of purchase of child prostitution; and Criminal file No 330 dated 25/10/2007 of Preah Sihanouk provincial court, involving 15 girls aged six to 17 years, under charge of indecent act against minors under 15.

Summary of Facts

While he was in Preah Sihanouk province in 2004-2007, Alexander Trofimov, alias SASA contracted, lured, tricked and procured at least 21 underage girls from seven brokers for sexual abuse perpetrated at Snake Island, Snake House guesthouse and his rented residence in Preah Sihanouk province. In 2007, with NGOs’ assistance, four and later more families filed formal complaints with Preah Sihanouk provincial anti-human trafficking police, subsequently leading to arrest of Alexander Trofimov and his seven brokers who provided girls to him.

A total of 21 girls, including a mute girl, were rescued and brought to care by NGOs. Two girls known as Alexander Trofimov’s fostered daughters later dropped the charges and three others were classified as witnesses by the Court, leaving 16 girls to testify.

NGOs want pardoned pedophile deported

Convicted pedophile Alexander Trofimov (right), former chairman of the Koh Pous Investment Company, is escorted by a prison security official after a session at the appeal court in Phnom Penh in June 2010. (Reuters)

Monday, 02 January 2012
Vincent MacIsaac
The Phnom Penh Post

National and international NGOs have petitioned Minister of Interior Sar Kheng to have serial pedophile Alexander Trofimov deported from Cambodia, noting that a repeat offence is likely for criminals of his type.

“We fear that Alexander Trofimov will again abuse children as he did after escaping his past in Russia,” reads the petition signed by 14 NGOs, including World Vision, Save the Children, Licadho and Action Pour les Enfants. It was delivered to the ministry on Friday.

Trofimov, is known on “Interpol’s wanted list as Stanislav Molodyakov” and is “reported to have raped six girls aged nine [to] 10 years in Russia”, the petition said, adding that a request to extradite him to Russia had been ignored.

He was released from Preah Sihanouk provincial prison by royal pardon on December 20 after serving slightly more than four years of an eight-year sentence for sex crimes against 17 girls. Prior to his arrest, Trofimov had led a US$300 million project to turn Snake Island into a luxury tourism resort, complete with a bridge linking it to Sihanoukville.

Banana Kingdoom: Serial pedophile pardoned by the king ... while nationalists are sentenced to jail without hope of pardon

Serial paedophile Alexander Trofimov, former chairman of the Koh Pous Investment Company, is escorted by a prison security official after a hearing at the Court of Appeal in Phnom Penh in June 2010. He is now free in Cambodia, following a pardon. (Reuters)

Snake Island paedophile set free in Sihanoukville

Wednesday, 21 December 2011
May Titthara and Vincent MacIsaac
The Phnom Penh Post

Serial paedophile and mega-resort investor Alexander Trofimov walked free from Preah Sihanouk Provincial Prison on Tuesday after serving slightly more than half of his previously reduced sentence for sex crimes against 17 underage girls, the prison’s director said yesterday.

Pich Veasna said that Trofimov was released on Tuesday following a Royal pardon. “We requested to King Norodom Sihamoni to pardon him because he had corrected himself during the time he served in prison,” Pich Veasna told the Post.

The former chairman of Russian-led Koh Pous (Snake Island) Investment Company was first accused in 2007 of purchasing sex from six girls between six and 16 years of age. After the first set of charges, 13 more girls – including one who was deaf – accused the now 45-year-old Russian businessman of sexually abusing them. He was convicted of sex crimes against 17 of them.

Russian pedophile case riles rights groups in Cambodia

Alexander Trofimov

2010-08-26
By Prak Chan Thul

PHNOM PENH (Reuters) - A Russian businessman accused of sexually abusing 17 children in Cambodia's largest-known pedophile case had his sentence reduced to eight years from 17 on Thursday in an appeal that riled human rights advocates.

Lawyers for Alexander Trofimov, 43, who is also wanted by Interpol and Russia for suspected sex offences, said there was no solid evidence to prove he had abused 17 girls while working as a director of a holiday resort company.

The judge said Trofimov paid as little as $5 and as much as $2,000 for sex with girls from 2006 to 2007 in Cambodia's seaside Preah Sihanouk province but reduced the sentence because he apologized and, as a foreigner, did not know the local laws.

Trofimov is the highest-profile case brought to court since Cambodia launched an anti-pedophile drive three years ago to ditch its reputation as a haven for foreign child abusers. The number of victims makes it the largest on record.

"The court's decision is surprising. The public will have difficulty accepting this," Noun Phanith, lawyer for the victims, told reporters. "Eight years is unacceptable."

The move comes as Cambodia, a country blighted by poverty, corruption, human rights abuses and a thriving sex industry, seeks to clean up its image and attract foreign investment.

Since 2008, 64 suspected pedophiles, mostly foreigners, have been arrested, with 45 convictions so far, according to Action Pour Les Enfants (APLE), a French group working closely with Cambodia's police to track sex offenders.

Bith Kimhong, head of Cambodia's Anti-Human Trafficking and Juvenile Protection Department, said there was a worrying trend of sex and rape involving children but that Cambodia was committed to stamping out a crime that was hurting its image.

"We want the offender to stay in prison for a long time. That is our work. But the sentence is the court's authority," he said.

Trofimov was executive director of Koh Puos Investment Group until his arrest in 2007 and lived in Sihanoukville, a beach town infamous for child prostitution and a magnet for pedophiles driven out of neighboring countries after similar crackdowns.

His company was leading a $300 million resort and shopping development for an island off Preah Sihanouk.

"Does our judiciary help to protect children or does it assist sex offenders?" said Naly Pilorge, director of local human-rights rights group Licadho.

"Apologizing or paying out-of-court settlements to victims cannot warrant reducing the sentence of child sex offenders."

Trofimov was originally charged with abusing 19 underage girls but the number was reduced after his appeal to 17.

Cambodia rejected Russia's request to extradite Trofimov to face similar charges in his home country where is he is known as Stanislav Molodyakov and wanted by Interpol .

Peng Maneth, a lawyer who represented one of his victims, a 14-year-old girl, described the Russian as a dangerous man who should never be freed. "He didn't just invest in (resorts), he also invested in sex with children," Peng Maneth said.

(Writing by Jason Szep; Editing by Nick Macfie)

Cambodia sentences Russian pedophile to 8 years in 2nd trial

PHNOM PENH, Nov. 28 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia's Sihanoukville Municipal Court has handed down a second child-sex conviction to Russian businessman Alexander Trofimov for soliciting sex with an underage girl, sentencing him to an additional eight years in jail, state media reported Friday.

The 41-year-old former chairman of Koh Puos Investment Group, who is already serving six years for sexual assault in Cambodia's largest-ever pedophilia case, appeared in court for sentencing after missing the first two days of his trial, his lawyer, Saing Vannak, was quoted by the Phnom Penh Post as saying.

He added that he was unsure whether Trofimov would appeal the ruling.

"I will talk to my client about whether to appeal," he told the Post after the sentence was handed down.

Trofimov was convicted on one of two counts of purchasing sex from a minor, brought by a single victim.

The second count involving 17 victims is still under investigation, with a verdict expected later, said Teng Maneth, a legal officer at the anti-pedophile NGO Action Pour les Enfants.

This week's trial was the third attempt to get Trofimov into court after a lack of lawyer delayed earlier trials.

Trofimov was arrested in 2007 and first stood trial in March of this year on charges of abusing a 13-year-old girl.

He was sentenced to 13 years, but his prison term was slashed to seven years by the Appeals Court in October.

Pedophilia: Trofimov’s affair saga

Alexander Trofimov (Photo: AP)

28 Nov 2008
By Im Navin
Cambodge Soir Hebdo
Translated from French by Luc Sâr
Click here to read the article in French

A Russian citizen who was sentenced for pedophilia in 2007, dragged in his wake three Cambodian middlemen.

In its verdict handed down on Thursday 27 November, the Sihanoukville tribunal found guilty three Cambodian women for acting as middleman between Trofimov and the children. According to My Chan Veasna, an investigator for the Protection of Juvenile Justice (PJJ) NGO who is based in Shanoukville and who is knowledgeable in this case, the suspects were charged according to Article 34 for prostitution of minors, which is part of the anti-human trafficking law. The court session lasted 3 days, between 25 and 27 November. Thirteen children were heard by the court as witnesses in the case, all were victims of pedophilia.

Alexander Trofimov who was arrested in 2007 and sentenced to 13 years of jail time, saw his sentence reduced to six years following his appeal.

Russian businessman on trial for paedophilia in Cambodia

Tue, 25 Nov 2008
DPA

Phnom Penh - The trial of a Russian businessman charged with sexually abusing 18 underage girls began Tuesday after a series of delays in getting legal representation for the defendant, national media reported Tuesday. Alexander Trofimov, 41, was arrested in 2007 on charges of abusing the girls while working in the coastal town of Sihanoukville, The Phnom Penh Post reported.

Trofimov, was convicted in March this year of sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl and is currently serving a 13-year sentence in a Phnom Penh prison.

If convicted of the remaining charges, Trofimov could face a further seven to 15 years in prison, the newspaper reported.

The former chairman of Koh Pous Investment Group, which has a 300-million-dollar property development in Sihanoukville, previously complained he was unable to secure legal representation for the trial.

Trofimov has since hired a lawyer, but a local judge on Monday ordered the trial to begin even if the lawyer did not attend.

Russian businessman arrested for alleged child sex abuse in Cambodia

Wednesday, October 17, 2007
The Associated Press

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia: A Russian businessman has been arrested for allegedly having sex with at least six girls in Cambodia, a senior police official said Thursday.

Alexander Trofimov, the chairman of an investment company, was arrested Wednesday at Cambodia's coastal city of Sihanoukville, said police Maj. Gen. Bit Kimhong, director of the Interior Ministry's antihuman trafficking department.

The police officer said Trofimov, 41, was arrested on charges of debauchery, a Cambodian legal term for sex abuse against children that is punishable by 10 to 20 years in jail.

Trofimov allegedly had sex with five girls in 2005 and another one this year, Bit Kimhong said, adding that the girls were between 12 and 18 years old.

Police were transporting Trofimov in a car from Sihanoukville to a court in the capital, Phnom Penh, where he would be questioned and face formal charges, Bit Kimhong said.

He said the arrest warrant described Trofimov's alleged crimes as "gravely affecting social moral."

The case comes as police in neighboring Thailand are trying to arrest suspected Canadian pedophile Christopher Paul Neil for allegedly paying boys for sex. Cambodian police have also been alerted should Neil, the subject of a global Interpol manhunt, try to slip across the border.

Thailand and Cambodia are among the top destinations for Western men seeking sex with young males and females. A number of foreign pedophiles have been arrested in Cambodia in recent years.

In September last year, Trofimov's company received permission from the Cambodian government to develop an island off Sihanoukville into a tourist resort with an initial investment of up to US$300 million (€211 million).

The island — Koh Puos or Snake Island — is located about 800 meters (a half-mile) off a popular beach site in Sihanoukville, about 185 kilometers (115 miles) southwest of Phnom Penh.

Embassy in Cambodia denies Russian death in air crash

MOSCOW. June 25 (Interfax) - The Russian Embassy in Cambodia has denied reports that a Russian citizen allegedly died in an air crash in the country.

"We got in touch with the airline that owned the plane and learned that there was no Russian citizen aboard," an embassy source told Interfax by phone.