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Graham Cleghorn….victim
of injustice in |
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Judge Tan Senarong I am writing to clarify a
statement which appeared in the Phnom Penh Post dated 16-29 June, 2006 in an
article "Sex-convict Lauwaert not as lucky as his housemate" and
"Investigation into CWCC". As a judge, I take my responsibility and
obligation to the State and citizens very seriously and believe in complete
transparency. I feel very strongly that the misstatements and inaccurate information
which has been published in this article damage both my professional and
personal reputation and thus, I hope that you will publish this letter so I
can set the record straight. In your article dated16-19 June,
2006, you state that I was involved in the Graham Cleghorn case at the Siem
Reap provincial court, "that I presided over the original trial,
colluded with my sister who is a prominent CWCC member to put Cleghorn in
prison so he could be blackmailed for valuable land he owned near Angkor
Wat." In response to these inaccurate statements, let me state the
following: 1.
I never "presided" over the original trial in the Cleghorn
case. At the time of this case, I was working as a judge in the 2.
I have absolutely no knowledge of any land matters involving
Mr.Cleghorn and I certainly have no interest whatsoever in any land he may or
may not own near Angkor Wat. I will like to pose one question however - if
the Constitution and domestic laws of Cambodia provide that only Khmer can
own land, how is it possible that a foreigner "owns land" near
Angkor Wat? Perhaps you should check your sources. 3.
I do have a sister who works for CWCC. She works for CWCC's Siem Reap
office in the Reintegration Unit. Reintegration work is not at all involved
in investigation of cases; on the contrary, reintegration is the
"end" phase of a process to get victims of abuse and exploitation
safely home again. 4.
Nonetheless, I have never discussed the Cleghorn case with my sister as
first of all, I was not involved in this case; second, this is not my
sister's function or role at CWCC and finally, it would not have been
appropriate. 5.
Here is an original case number (Graham Cleghorn at Siem Reap court)
86 dated February 25,2003, the investigating judge lang Mealdey and trial
judge Plang Chhlam. Your reference to my involvement
in the Cleghorn case has resulted in an inference of a conflict of interest
on my part. I take this accusation very seriously. As I stated above, my profession
as a judge is very important to me and I try my level best to be a fair and
just jurist. Many judges in I think that Mr Frans van Dijk,
Regional Director, SE Terre Des Hommes Netherlands stated correctly that
Cambodians should be proud of their legal system which has brought two sex
offenders to court and of organizations like the CWCC (see the Cambodia Daily
dated June 19, 2006) It is time to stop being manipulated by people who have
only sympathy for sex offenders and contempt for Cambodia's civil society. It
is time to protect women and children and stop circulating inaccurate
information, innuendo and rumors. If we all put our energies in this
direction, we can make this a safer country for our most vulnerable segments
of society. Judge Tan Senarong -
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