KH KOMPONG CHAM

Friday, January 14, 2011
Photographer roughed up


Security guards employed by the Shukaku Inc development company pull down a barrier erected by
residents to block the destruction of their homes in Village 24 in Srah Chak commune, Daun Penh district on Friday. (Photo by: Sovan Philong)


Police protecting the Boeung Kak development for Shukaku Inc. (Photo: The Phnom Penh Post)
Friday, 14 January 2011
Khouth Sophak Chakrya
The Phnom Penh Post
A photographer from The Phnom Penh Post was manhandled and briefly detained by district police at the Boeung Kak lakeside in Phnom Penh this morning, as he attempted to photograph the demolition of homes for a controversial housing project.

Sovan Philong, an award-winning Post photographer, said he arrived at the lakeside as police and construction workers began dismantling the dwellings of around 20 families.

As he was taking pictures of the stand-off between residents and police, Sovan Philong said he was blocked by a group of uniformed riot police officers and had his camera equipment seized.

“Four or five of them ran to block me – they tried to get the camera from me,” he said.

Sovan Philong said that even after showing the police his press identification – issued by the Ministry of Information – the police treated him “like a robber”, grabbing him by the scruff of the next and pinning his arms behind his back.

“They didn’t care. They just wanted one thing: to get the camera,” he added.


Police also confiscated camera equipment being used by Sovan Philong’s brother, Hong Menea, 20, an apprentice photographer.

During the confiscation, Sovan Philong sustained a minor injury to his head.

After the intervention of residents and NGO representatives and other reporters who were at the scene, the police handed back the two cameras, but deleted their images of the crackdown.

In a statement yesterday, the Overseas Press Club of Cambodia condemned the police actions, calling on the authorities “to ensure that members of the press are not obstructed while doing their jobs, and that they are not unjustly accused, harassed or arrested for going about their professional duties”.

The homes at Boeung Kak lake were being demolished to make way for the development of a 133-hectare housing and commercial project by local developer Shukaku Inc, a firm owned by Cambodian People’s Party Senator Lao Meng Khin, and China’s Inner Mongolia Erdos Hung Jun Investment Co.

Housing rights activists say more than 4,000 families are set to make way for the project.

When asked on Friday for the name of his superior officer, one municipal police officer stationed outside Shukaku’s lakeside office said his boss had “no name and no phone number”.

Information Minister Khieu Kanharith could not be reached for comment on Friday.

Friday, January 14, 2011
Three nations cooperate on new border map [-New border map imposed by Vietnam?]
01/14/2011
VOV News (Hanoi)


Deputy Foreign Minister Ho Xuan Son, Head of Vietnam’s National Border Committee and Var Kim Hong, Head of Cambodia’s Border Committee and a representative from Blom Info AS of Denmark on January 13 signed a contract to produce a new set of maps of the national border between Vietnam and Cambodia.

Previously, from Jan.10-13, negotiations on the production contract of the set of maps were held in Cambodia’s capital, Phnom Penh.

The contract manifests close cooperation and the determination of Vietnam and Cambodia to complete the set of maps of their national border and all border demarcation-related work by the end of 2012, aiming to build a border of peace, friendship and cooperation between the two nations.

An international press briefing took place after the signing ceremony.
Friday, January 14, 2011
Debate urged on NGO law
Thursday, 13 January 2011
Thomas Miller
The Phnom Penh Post
Four civil society umbrella organisations yesterday urged the government to make Monday’s consultation the beginning – rather than the end – of public debate on its controv ersial draft NGO law.

In a statement yesterday, the Cooperation Committee for Cambodia, NGO Forum, Medicam and the Cambodian Human Rights Action Committee – representing more than 400 local and international NGOs working in Cambodia – called on the government to incorporate their recommendations into the law.

It also requested the establishment of a joint government-civil society working group to make further revisions.

“Our aim is to have a law that is enabling for us rather than a law that would restrict operations and also our ability to serve the people,” said CCC executive director Lun Borithy.


The groups yesterday delivered a statement and summary report of recommendations yesterday to the ministries of interior and foreign affairs, he said.

The report includes a host of proposals that amount to considerable changes to the law.

The groups called for registration requirements to be simplified and incorporate registration provisions from the 2007 Civil Code.

It also added that associations and small organisations should be excluded from the scope of the law.
It would be very hard for us and the entire community to accept the law as it stands.
Reporting requirements should be scaled according to an organisation’s size, the report added. Suspension and dissolution of NGOs should also proceed in accordance with
an organisation’s charter, the Civil Code and donor requirements.

“We want those recommendations to be reflected into the current draft and a second draft to be shared with us,” Lun Borithy said.

Phay Siphan, spokesman for the Council of Ministers, said the government has “no position” on the proposals as yet. The ministries of interior and foreign affairs, which co-authored the draft, will meet to discuss the issue but “don’t have any schedule yet to make a decision on that”, he added.

Interior Ministry spokesman Khieu Sopheak could not be reached for comment.

The government’s next step is to advance the law to the Council of Ministers. But civil society organisations are calling for significant changes before that happens.

“It would be very hard for us and the entire community in Cambodia to accept the law as it stands,” Lun Borithy said.

The United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights has also weighed in on the draft law.

Christophe Peschoux, OHCHR’s country representative, said in an email following Monday’s meeting that his office had given the government a report analysing the draft and questioning “whether a new law is legally necessary, given existing laws”.

“Our office welcomes and fully supports a full and meaningful debate and consultation of this law, both in terms of its legal necessity, and its contents. We welcome the consultation that began [Monday] and hope that it will continue throughout the process of development of this law, including when it will be debated by Parliament,” Peschoux said.

“The enactment of a law enabling the further development of civil society in Cambodia is crucial to the continued development of Cambodia and its society, and would place Cambodia as a champion in the region.”
Friday, January 14, 2011
Questioning for general in weapons case


Samith Virak following his arrest on Monday. (Photo by: Sovan Philong)


Peuy Pel (Photo: DAP-news)
Thursday, 13 January 2011
Thet Sambath and Khouth Sophak Chakrya
The Phnom Penh Post
A BRIGADIER general arrested this week for allegedly possessing illegal weapons has been sent to military court for questioning, officials said yesterday, as an associate of the officer was arrested in Siem Reap province.

Samith Virak, deputy director of the materials and technology department at the defence ministry, was arrested at his home on Monday and brought to military court yesterday for interrogation by prosecutors, said Ney Thol, head of the military court.

“I did not get a report about the suspect’s answers. Now this case is in the hands of the prosecutor and I am waiting on a report from him,” Ney Thol said.


Sao Sokha, the national military police commander, said on Monday that Samith Virak was arrested in September 2001 on suspicion of involvement with a group called the Cambodian Freedom Fighters, which staged an armed terrorist attack in 2000 on the Ministry of Defence and the Council of Ministers. He was released on bail in 2002, however, and his case was never brought to trial.

“We are investigating to find out who allowed this man to get a position at the Ministry of Defence,” Sao Sokha said on Monday, adding that police were also investigating “whether this man trafficked weapons or created any illegal movements or insecurity in the country”.

Sao Sokha said police had confiscated 12 illegal firearms from the general’s office and five from his house on Monday, adding that “Samith Virak” was an alias, and that the suspect’s real name was Pich Thoeun.
Prum Sornthon, chief prosecutor of the military court, said yesterday that he could not remember why Samith Virak’s case had never been brought to trial in 2002.

“I cannot say anything about that because there are too many cases,” Prum Sornthon said.

Peuy Pel, a lieutenant colonel in the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces, was also arrested yesterday in Siem Reap province’s Banteay Srei district for allegedly possessing illegal weapons including a rifle and a pistol.

The arrest and confiscation were done on land owned by Samith Virak, according to Ngem Sila, deputy military police chief for Siem Reap.

“We sent the suspect and the evidence including an AK-47 rifle and a K-54 handgun to Phnom Penh for the military court to take action through legal procedures,” he said.

A military officer who declined to be named said Peuy Pel’s arrest was linked to Samith Virak’s case. Police at the scene of Samith Virak’s arrest on Monday said the general was also under investigation for “other issues” aside from weapons, but declined to elaborate.
Friday, January 14, 2011
Two convicted Cambodians set free after illegally trespassing in Thailand


UBON RATCHATHANI, Jan 13 (MCOT online news) - Two Cambodians have been released after a Thai court sentenced them to two-year suspended jail terms for illegally trespassing into Thailand while they were collecting forest products.

Ubon Ratchathani Governor Prawat Ratirom accompanied two Cambodian villagers from Preah Vihear province to the Chong Sangam border crossing in Sisaket province to hand over the two Cambodian nationals to Preah Vihear deputy governor Sor Thavy who was waiting to receive them.

Both men were arrested by Thai soldiers as they collected forest products in the Phanom Dong Rak Mountain Range near Thailand's Ubon Ratchathani province on Dec 29.

They were charged with illegally entering the Thai kingdom and were sentenced on Thursday to two months prison but the jail term was suspended and they were fined Bt2,500 each.


Mr Prawat said Preah Vihear Governor Oum Mara coordinated with him to help the two Cambodians.

They were set free as they did not intend to trespass into Thai territory but they became lost and their detention period exceeded the fine, according to the Thai governor.

Mr Prawat said the two Cambodian nationals were released to demonstrate Thailand’s sincerity and establish positive relations between Thai and Cambodian local authorities.

Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban said the release of the two Khmers has nothing to do with the Cambodian court agreeing to grant bail for two of seven Thais detained in Phnom Penh charged with trespass into Cambodia territory.

He said it was the co-incident not the exchange of prisoner deal between the two countries.

The Cambodian court on Thursda allowed Mr Panich Vikitsreth, MP for Bangkok and Naruemol Chitwaratana of the People’s Network Against Corruption and Santi Asoke networks, to be temporary freed under bail.

The seven were arrested Dec 29 by the Cambodian authorities for illegal entry into Cambodia in Banteay Meanchey province and are now detained in Phnom Penh's Prey Sar Prison.
Friday, January 14, 2011
[Bangkok Post] Weekly highlights [: The border trespassing Thais]
14/01/2011
Veera Prateepchaikul
Bangkok Post
The foolhardy adventurism of seven Thais remains the talk of the town two weeks after their arrest by Cambodian soldiers. Meanwhile in Bangkok, business owners at Ratchaprasong intersection can no longer tolerate the red-shirt protests and ask the UDD to give them a break.

The border intrusion saga involving seven Thais who were caught by Cambodian forces before the year's end took a turn for the better, but only slightly, when the Phnom Penh Municipal Court decided on Thursday to release two of the detainees on bail.

The Thai embassy in Phnom Penh put up one million riel, about 7,500 baht, for each of them - Democrat MP for Bangkok Panich Vikitsreth and Ms Narumol Chivarattana. They were released on the condition they must not leave Cambodia and must report to authorities when summoned.

Mr Panich and Ms Narumol have taken temporary refuge at the Thai embassy.

Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya disclosed that a group of Cambodian border crossers held in Thailand were sent home in return for the release of the two Thais.


The other five Thais, including Veera Somkwamkid, a leader of the Thai Patriots Network, a splinter faction of the People’s Alliance for Democracy, and his secretary Ratree Pipattanapaiboon, were still being detained at Prey Sar prison in the Cambodian capital on charges of illegal entry and trespassing on a military area. Mr Veera and Ms Ratree each face an additional charge of spying.

The seven were arrested while on a trip they said was to investigate alleged intrusions into Thailand near a border village in Sa Kaeo province by Cambodian people. A video clip posted on YouTube showed Mr Panich, talking with a man via mobile phone and admitting that his team was on Cambodian soil. The inspection trip led by Mr Panich had the blessing of Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva.

Meanwhile in Bangkok, members of the Thai Patriots Network (TPN) led by Chaiwat Sinsuwong rallied in front of Government House Thursday to demand the resignation of Mr Abhisit and Mr Kasit. They threatened to block the Aranyaprathet-Poipet border crossing, which is a major trading post for Thais and Cambodians alike. Besides, the Cambodian border town of Poipet boasts several casinos which attract thousands of Thai punters, especially on weekends.

But TPN members will face stiff resistance if they carry on with their threat to shut the border checkpoint. Some 1,500 local people from several districts of Sa Kaeo province staged a rally Thursday at Muang district to protest against the TPN, which was later reported to have cancelled the protest.

On the political front, the main spotlight of the week was on the conflict between the Democrats and their coalition partners over a single issue in the charter amendments bill which passed the first reading in the parliament and which narrowly won the endorsement of the constitutional amendments scrutiny committee by only 18 votes to 17 on Tuesday, with the chairman casting the deciding vote.

The issue is about the proportion of constituency and party list MPs in the House of Representatives. The amendments bill seeks to change the ratio from 400 for constituency MPs and 80 list MPs to 375 and 125 respectively. The coalition parties, minus the Democrats, want the seating formula to revert to the 400 and 100 formula specified in the previous constitution of 1997.

The minor coalition parties, which include Bhumjaithai, Chart Thai Pattana and Puea Pandin, argue that the 375 plus 125 formula will benefit only the Democrats, as it will help them win more party list seats.

After their proposed formula was outvoted in the constitutional amendments scrutiny committee led by Democrat MP Therdpong Chaiyanant, Deputy Prime Minister Sanan Kachornprasart of the Chart Thai Pattana Party told reporters that he was confident that their formula would, in the end, be accepted.

So far, the Democrats have stuck to their guns and Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban has been assigned to discuss the matter with the coalition partners.

The opposition Puea Thai Party has supported the dissenting coalition parties’ formula although they have boycotted the government’s charter amendments bill from the very beginning. The party wants to revive the 1997 charter with changes made to the chapter regarding the Privy Council.

Another significant event of the week was the rally on Tuesday by some 2,000 business operators, vendors, employees and residents at Ratchaprasong shopping district against red-shirt protests, which they say have seriously affected their lives, businesses and livelihood generally.

The Ratchaprasong Square Traders Association said that red-shirt protests during March and May last year caused big losses for some 2,000 business operators, to the tune of 11.2 billion baht, and that the protest on Sunday Jan 9 this year alone cost them about 100 million baht in lost sales.

RSTA wants the red-shirts to protest elsewhere and the government to find a suitable location for future gatherings by all political groups. The traders also called on the government to accelerate the passing of a law on public gatherings to ensure that such activities do not cause hardship or inconvenience to other people.

A discussion is under way between representatives of the red-shirt movement and the Ratchaprasong business operators about the next protest, scheduled for Jan 23, at Ratchaprasong intersection.

Another topical political issue of the week was the government’s nine New Year "gifts" for the Thai people announced by Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva last week as part of the government’s ambitious Pracha Wiwat programme.

The nine gifts are; continued free electricity for households which use less than 90 units a month; credit arrangements for taxi drivers to buy new cars; social security coverage for informal workers; registration of motorcycle taxi-drivers so they are freed from having to pay under-the-table fees to loca mafia; additional trading spots for vendors; and the freezing of the price of LPG for home and transport sector use.

Criticism of the handouts range from borrowing future money to curry favour from voters ahead of the coming general election and putting the burden on future generations, weakening the Thai people to the extent that they will have to depend on government handouts, and potentially bankrupting the economy.

Among the critics was Privy Councillor Kasem Wattanachai, who voiced serious concern over the populist policies. He said that politicians all over the world are of the same mould – that is, they care only about getting votes in an election.
Friday, January 14, 2011
Enemies of the People sets stage for Khmer Rouge killing fields trials
Enemies of the People Movie Trailer from Rob Lemkin on Vimeo.

Indefatigable Cambodian journalist carries camera for 10 years until murderers finally come clean

January 13, 2011
By Martin Dunphy
Straight.com (Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada)

A documentary by Thet Sambath and Rob Lemkin. Unrated. Plays Saturday to Monday, January 15 to 17, and Thursday, January 20, at the Vancity Theatre

The recent decision (on January 13) by a special UN–backed Cambodian court to dismiss appeals by four accused Khmer Rouge war criminals and proceed to trial affixes a stamp of finality to Enemies of the People.

The absorbing and historic 2009 documentary by Phnom Penh journalist Thet Sambath, years in the making, ends with the imminent detention in 2007 of the Communist Khmer Rouge’s former number-two man, Nuon Chea, prior to indictment on charges of genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity. Chea helped rule Cambodia, then called Democratic Kampuchea, as chief ideologist with the infamous Pol Pot from 1976 to 1979, when the government crumbled with the country’s invasion by Vietnam. Prior to that, the communist Khmer Rouge movement executed or killed through starvation or disease as many as 2.5 million people, mostly ethnic minorities, monks, intellectuals, and those tainted by any contact with outside, capitalist governments or “influences”.


Sambath’s father was killed after a village meeting where he questioned the abolition of private property, and his brother and mother also died during the purges. Thet became determined to document for posterity the reasons for the genocide and who was responsible for this monstrous chapter of Cambodia’s history.

“Nobody understands why so many people were killed,” Sambath says in a voice-over at the film’s start.

About two decades after the collapse of the Khmer Rouge, Sambath started to track down the largely anonymous farmers and uneducated peasants who were responsible for most of the killings, especially in the country’s northeast. Chea was relatively easy to track down as he had returned from exile in 1998 as part of a surrender deal that included no prosecution, and he was living near the Thailand border.

Without mentioning his family’s fate, the journalist won the confidence of former murderers on farms and in small villages during dozens of visits. These social connections and, eventually, filmed interviews took place over an astonishing period of time—seven years in several cases, and almost 10 years with Chea—before he was able to comfortably ask questions about the killings.

With codirector and writer Rob Lemkin shouldering a second camera during his epic quest’s later years, Sambath wrested some astonishing, and chilling, revelations from his subjects. One executioner’s casual re-creation of his preferred method of killing and his complaint of sore wrists after so much throat-slitting brings to mind writer Hannah Arendt’s famous phrase about the “banality of evil”. There is horrific, almost offhand talk of the slaughter of children first so they wouldn’t scream as they saw their parents killed. Blame is shifted from the peasant ranks to the local cadre to regional bosses, and so on up the chain. Chea’s final admissions are damning and his apologies defiant. He says the killers should be “proud”: “If we had shown mercy to these people, the country would have been lost.”

Ultimately, Sambath’s interviews—although unravelling only a tiny portion of the quilt of unacknowledged guilt that lies heavy over that period of his country’s history—demonstrate a startling similarity between that genocide and the much swifter, later, atrocities in Rwanda less than 20 years down the road. Common people, mostly uneducated, rural villagers, also committed most of those murders as a result of sustained indoctrination, peer pressure, drunkenness, and fear of retribution. Another kindred element? A lack of any feeling of real responsibility. Later interviews with Rwandan thugs and survivors by authors such as Philip Gourevitch and Jean Hatzfeld reveal feelings shared by the killing tools of the Khmer Rouge.

One can only hope that Sambath and Lemkin’s effort assists in laying the groundwork to help the world identify such genocides-in-the-making while they are still in their infancy.
Friday, January 14, 2011
Thai FM Urges Cambodia To Speed Up Legal Process On 7 Thai Detainees
By Ramjit
TIMOR-LESTE, Jan 14 (Bernama) -- Thai Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya urged Cambodian authorities to speed up legal process on seven Thais arrested for illegally entering Cambodia and move on with numerous tasks on bilateral cooperation for mutual benefits, Thai News Agency (TNA) reported.

During his visit to Timor Leste on Thursday, Kasit gave the comment after two of the seven Thais were granted bail by Cambodian Court, that Cambodia could quickly resolve the case, as it was not a matter of serious crime, and that Thailand was ready for a swift settlement after it had made forthright clarifications.

He said previously in the past 3-4 months, Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva had already met with his Cambodian counterpart Hun Sen four times, and therefore, the case of the seven Thais should not hinder bilateral cooperation.


Kasit is on an official visit to Timor-Leste for the first time since assuming his post, where he was welcome by Timorese President Jose Ramos-Horta, and is scheduled for courtesy calls with Timorese Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao and President of the National Parliament Fernando de Araujo, on Friday.

The Thai Foreign Minister's agenda for discussion during his Timor visit include bilateral cooperation in the fields of technical assistance, fishery, education and energy, together with conveying Thailand's support for Timor-Leste's prospective Asean membership.

After the Timor-Leste visit, Kasit will attend the Asean Ministerial Meeting Retreat in Lombok Island of Indonesia starting from Saturday, during which he will hold a sideline meeting with his Cambodian counterpart Hor Namhong.
Friday, January 14, 2011
S Korean Court Orders Cambodian Airline To Compensate Families Of Crash Victims


PMT airplane wreckage (Photo: AP)
SEOUL, Jan 14 (Bernama) -- A Seoul court Friday ordered a Cambodian airline to pay 3.2 billion won (US$2.8 million) in compensation to the families of passengers who died in a 2007 plane crash, Yonhap news agency reported.

PMT Air's Antonov An-24 crashed in southern Cambodia in June 2007 on its way to the beach resort town of Sihanoukville from Angkor International Airport in Siem Reap.

All 44 passengers aboard were killed in the accident, including 13 tourists from South Korea.

Eleven family members of the deceased had filed a suit in 2008 seeking 4.5 billion won in compensation, claiming the accident was caused by defects in the small passenger plane as well mistakes by pilots and the local control tower.
Friday, January 14, 2011
Mu Sochua to speak at 2011 Asia Pacific Rule of Law Conference (APAC)
Thursday, December 2, 2010
Source: http://www.apac2011wjp.org/mu-sochua-to-speak-at-apac
Mu Sochua, a Cambodian Parliament member, will be a panelist at the Asia Pacific Rule of Law Conference. Sochua has been an outspoken advocate for a diverse array of human rights issues in Cambodia, including a campaign against sex trafficking, the prevention of domestic violence and the promotion of labor rights for women. For more information on Mu Sochua and other prominent speakers at the Asia Pacific Rule of Law Conference, please visit our speaker page.

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Speaker Biography

Mu Sochua
Member of Parliament, Cambodia


Mu Sochua, a member of the Cambodian Parliament and advocate for human rights, gained her freedom from the Khmer Rouge as a girl when her parents put her on a plane to Paris in 1972. After 18 years of exile and a successful career in the U.S. as a social worker, Sochua returned to Cambodia and found her country transformed into what Time magazine called "a pervert’s paradise", where women and girls were so devalued that becoming a sex worker was a common fate.

As Cambodia’s first woman seated as Minister of Women’s Affairs, Sochua negotiated an agreement with Thailand allowing Cambodian women trafficked as sex workers there to return to their home country in lieu of being jailed. As the author and defender of the Domestic Violence Law in the Cambodian Parliament, Sochua has served the women of her nation as an unrelenting advocate for the preservation and full practice of women’s rights. She also launched a campaign to bring NGOs, law enforcement officials and rural women into a national dialogue and education program to help protect women and girls victimized by trafficking and to boost prevention efforts nationwide. In 2005, when Vital Voices honored Mu Sochua in Washington, D.C. for her efforts in combating child trafficking in her native Cambodia, she said her mind remained with the women and children of Cambodia and called for international attention to government corruption and human rights abuses in her government, conditions she says create a climate where traffickers flourish. Sochua continues to be steadfast in her call for action toward the formation of an authentically democratic Cambodia where women’s rights are revered as human rights.
Friday, January 14, 2011
HoChiMonk Long Kim Leang Deports Back to Cambodia

According to a trusted source from San Jose, California, HoChiMonk Long Kimleang was deported back to Cambodia on January 12, 2011. By this time, he might already arrive at Cambodia.

HoChiMonk Long Kimleang was secretly sponsored by the President of a Khmer temple, known as Mervyn Temple because it locates on Mervyn road, in San Jose, California. Most of the boards of this temple do not know his background so no one said a word.
HoChiMonk Long Kimleang was one of the monks who went to arrest, defrock, and deport Venerable Tim Sakhorn to imprison him in Vietnam in 2007.

During the Khmer Krom Buddhist monks protested in Phnom Penh to demand the Vietnamese government to release the Khmer Krom Buddhist monks who were imprisoned in Vietnam, HoChiMonk Long Kimleang also led a group of HoChiMonks to beating up the Khmer Krom monks. He took the pictures of the Khmer Krom monks so he could use as evident to arrest and defrock them back to imprison in Vietnam.

On July 4, 2009, Venerable Tim Sakhorn was granted a political asylum status to live in Sweden. After arriving Sweden and without scaring for his safety, Venerable Tim Sakhorn started telling the truth about who were involving arresting, defrocking, and deporting him to Vietnam. By that time, the Khmer around the world, especially in San Jose, California, were totally shocked by that news. Most of the Board Directors of the Mervyn temple agreed to send him back, but only the President and Secretary of that temple had tried to defend and protect for HoChiMonk Long Kimleang.

When Venerable Tim Sakhorn visited San Jose in June 2010, Venerable Tim Sakhorn even forgave HoChiMonk Long Kimleang if he came to meet him and said sorry for what he had done to Venerable Tim Sakhorn. May be HoChiMonk Long Kimleang thought that he has money and under protected by the President and Secretary of that temple, he did not even bother to come to meet Venerable Tim Sakhorn. There were complaints had filed to the US INS and finally the justice came for Venerable Tim Sakhorn.

Thanks to the US INS for standing strong to support Human Rights and to demonstrate that the United States is not a place for the people who committed the crimes against Human Rights like HoChiMonk Long Kimleang to live. It is also a lesson for the Cambodian community in the United States to stop sponsoring the HoChiMonks coming to the United States as religious workers because those monks don’t even have a basic morality as Human Beings. They are Buddhist monks but they work to serve the CPP Party and its master, the Vietnamese Communist government.