|
Graham Cleghorn….victim
of injustice in |
|
|
Home > News
Reports > 2006 |
|
|
|
Graham Robert Cleghorn, 58, said
in an interview from Prey Sar prison in The lawyer resigned within hours
of when the Phnom Penh Appeals Court judge scheduled to hear his case, Saly
Theara, upheld sentences against two Australian men on sex charges brought by
a controversial non-government organization, the Cambodian Women's Crisis
Center (CWCC). Borima said by email that he
resigned because he believed Cleghorn needed "someone stronger". Judge Theara's decision to uphold
the 10- and 20- year respective sentences awarded to Clinton Rex Betterridge
and Bart Lauwaert in The Australian government
announced the same day that it would not extradite Betterridge, 39, who fled
home just days before he was sentenced and had been held in a Queensland jail
ever since, because it did not believe he could be assured of achieving
natural justice if he was returned to Cambodia. Instead he was allowed to
walk free. But Cleghorn said he expected that
episode to make little difference to his case in the face of a court system
he said was riddled with corruption and against a case brought by a powerful
organization like the CWCC with money behind it. "Look at what they have done
with my appeals so far," Cleghorn said. "At my first appeal last
year, eight defence witnesses came all the way from Siem Reap to say exactly
the same things as the women in the Australians' case - that they had been
kidnapped, threatened and offered money to testify against me by the CWCC -
and they adjourned the hearing. "I was informed my next
hearing would be held on Monday on the Friday night beforehand so that there
was no chance of getting the witnesses to the court, but my lawyer managed to
apply for a stay of proceedings. The third time, they held the appeal without
telling me, my lawyer or the embassy it was on, although the CWCC was told.
It's no surprise that appeal was unsuccessful. If you were me, what
conclusions would you be reaching here?" Cleghorn, a former tour guide, was
sentenced to a 20-year jail sentence in 2004 for raping five women he
employed as labourers and maids who had stayed at his Siem Reap home. After his last appeal was held in
apparent secrecy last January, "They don't want the people
who say they were bullied, kidnapped and threatened to try to make them
falsely accuse me to be heard. But as I have seen from the case of the
Australians, even if they do, it makes no difference to the court. It's a
done deal. I will never find justice in He also denied allegations printed
in a "That's rubbish. I have never
tried to bribe anyone. Even if I was the sort of person to consider that
option, I have no money, and what would be the point of bribing the women
anyway? It seems to me that if you bribe anyone in this country, you bribe
the judge, and that isn't an option - for a small fish like me, at
least," he said. Cleghorn maintains he was framed
by corrupt officials who wanted his valuable land and the CWCC, which he
claims has used high-profile convictions of foreigners to secure millions of
dollars in donor funding, and that the women testifying against him were
promised thousands of dollars in compensation by the CWCC if they made false
complaints. The CWCC first came under fire for
its methods in a Far Eastern Economic Review article in March 2004 in which a
senior CWCC official admitted detaining women and children and giving gifts
to police prior to conviction, maintaining it was a necessary means to an end
and for the protection of women's rights. CWCC head Oung Chanthoul has
strenuously and consistently denied she has any influence over the court. She
stood by her allegations this week that the women against Cleghorn were
approached with offers of money to drop their claims, but admitted she had
little to offer in the way of evidence except their testimonies. "The girls complained to me
that people had come to see them. I have their words," she said. UN High Human Rights Commissioner
Louise Arbour said after a visit to Cambodia last month that judicial reform
was the "single most important area in which Cambodia needed to make
progress", saying many judges lacked training, integrity and
independence. Judge
Theara was unavailable for comment Friday but at the time he handed down his
verdict he said he had discounted the women's testimony in favour of forensic
evidence.
|