Unofficial translation from Sralanh Khmers by KI staff Heng Soy and Socheata
The Mort Chrouk (An Giang in VN) tribunal already held a hearing to sentence former Monk Tim Sakhorn, at 7:00 AM on 08 November 2007, at the Barach (Long Xuyen in VN) provincial court. At the end of the sentence, where no defense lawyer was present, and only with the presence of 2-3 Cambodians and about 10 Khmer monks who have been summoned by the Yuon authority to hear the handing down of the sentence, the judge sentenced the former monk to one year of jail after VN allegedly found that he cooperated with the Khmer Kampuchea Krom Federation (KKF) in the world, and that Monk Tim Sakhorn allegedly conducted activities to undermine the Cambodia-Vietnam friendship.
However, after the sentencing, the leader of the Khmer Kampuchea Krom Community (KKC) in Cambodia issued his reaction by saying that this is a proof that the Cambodian government is fully under the political pressure exerted by the communist Vietnamese regime, just like the puppet (People’s Republic of Kampuchea – PRK) regime was in 1979. Furthermore, this action taken by the Cambodian leaders is tantamount to allowing the Vietnamese to continue their policy of destroying the movement demanding freedom by Khmer people living in Kampuchea Krom (South Vietnam).
Khmer Krom monks and people whom Sralanh Khmers contacted by phone from Motr Chrouk province, yesterday afternoon, recounted the activities in the hearing held by the Communist Vietnamese court. The hearing started at 7:00 AM on 08 November 2007, in Barach city (Long Xuyen). The courtroom was attended only by 10 monks representing the 10 pagodas (one representative monk from each pagoda): 4 pagodas from Krobao district (Tinh Bien in VN), and from 6 pagodas in Svay Tong (Triton in VN), and about 4-5 Khmer people, including Chau In who was summoned by the Communist VN authority, and expressly ordered to attend this hearing, so that he can act as a witness in the charges leveled against Monk Tim Sakhorn.
A Khmer Krom source from Motr Chrouk added that there was no defense lawyer during the hearing. There were only the Yuon cops who questioned Monk Tim Sakhorn in the past, and they were the ones who read the alleged information extracted from the monk to the judge. After hearing the cops declaration, the judge proceeded immediately to issue a decision in the case by stating that he (the judge) found Monk Tim Sakhorn guilty of undermining the Vietnam-Cambodia solidarity, and sentenced him to one year of jail, starting from the day of his arrest on 30 June 2007.
The Khmer Krom source was in fact a Khmer Krom monk, and he confirmed to Sralanh Khmers that he saw Monk Tim Sakhorn declaring to the court that he does not know anything about the law setting up the friendship between Cambodia and Vietnam. Furthermore, Monk Tim Sakhorn said that he has no intention of undermining this friendship either. He said that last year and the year before that, a group of KKF leaders visited his pagoda in Phnom Den. They then invited monks to participate in human rights activities and in demanding freedom for Khmer Kampuchea Krom people only.
The Khmer Krom source confirmed that, immediately after the confession of Monk Tim Sakhorn, the communist judge from Motr Chrouk province immediately declared that, according to Article 87 of the VN criminal code, Monk Tim Sakhorn will be sentenced to 15-year of jail. However, because he does not understand the Vietnamese law, and he was unknowingly under the influence of the KKF, therefore the court had decided to lighten his sentence to one year jail time only.
Other witnesses who spoke to Sralanh Khmers told us that, to tell the truth, they don’t even know that Monk Tim Sakhorn was jailed or that he was tortured or not, or whether he was forced to confess by some means or not, but judging from their listening to his confession, these witnesses believe that the former monk seems to be normal.
The VN cops told Khmer Krom people who were present in the hearing that they did not jail Monk Tim Sakhorn at all, and that they never tortured him. They said that Monk Tim Sakhorn was allowed to live in a decent place during the investigation prior to the hearing only.
The hearing was concluded at noon on that same day. Almost all of the Khmer Krom monks and people who attended the hearing, told Sralanh Khmers that they never knew who Monk Tim Sakhorn was (before the day of the hearing). Chau In who was forced by the Yuon authority to act as a witness in this case, complained that he did not know about the issue involving Monk Tim Sakhorn.
One day prior to the hearing, at the Wat Sangker No. 1 pagoda, located in Po commune (An Cu in VN), Krobao district (Tinh Bien), Motr Chrouk province (An Giang), Son Song Son, the communist party cadre in the Khmer Krom area, summoned several hundreds of Khmer Krom people to a meeting to explain about the results achieved by the communist regime during the past 30 years of occupation. Son Song Son also reminded Chau In during the meeting for him to attend the hearing held for Monk Tim Sakhorn on 08 November based on the provincial court summon. At that time, Chau In proposed that he will attend the hearing only if all Khmer people in the village attend as well, however Son Song Son rejected this proposal.
According to all Khmer Krom sources who attended this meeting, the reason Son Song Son rejected this proposal was because he was afraid that Khmer Krom people could create havoc in court, and undermine the hearing. Instead, Son Song Son turned around and invited 10 monks, one from each pagoda in 2 districts, to participate in the hearing.
Venerable Thach Binh, the Secretary General of the Khmer Kampuchea Krom Monks Association in Cambodia, said that the hearing of Monk Tim Sakhorn was conducted based on the Vietnamese authority’s whim only, and furthermore, there was no defense lawyer present in the hearing either, no family members of Monk Tim Sakhorn present there. The major in justice committed in this case is the fact that Monk Tim Sakhorn, a Cambodian citizen, was deported to be sentenced in Vietnam instead of Cambodia. Ven. Thach Binh said that this is a typical communist-style travesty of justice, and it also shows the Yuon’s supremacy over Khmer people, even on those living in Cambodia, i.e. not only do the Yuons have full control over Khmer people in Kampcuchea Krom, they are also foolishly violating the sovereignty and the independence of Cambodia as well.
Thach Setha, KKC President, added to Ven. Thach Binh’s declaration, by telling Sralanh Khmers that, the sentencing of Monk Tim Sakhorn by the Yuon tribunal in Motr Chrouk province is a serious legal violation of the Kingdom of Cambodia. In the sentencing of a Cambodian citizen (Monk Tim Sakhorn), the Hun Sen’s regime in Cambodia did not even send its representative to follow up in this case. This is tantamount to a Cambodian leader carving a piece of his own flesh to offer to the Yuon tiger.
Thach Setha, a former Senator, said that the sentencing of Monk Tim Sakhorn is a clear proof that the Cambodian government is unable to defend its own citizens, and that the Cambodian leaders are living under the Yuon political influence, just like how they did in 1979.
Regarding the defrocking of Monk Tim Sakhorn on 30 June 2007 at Wat Siha Ratanaram pagoda (the residence of Takeo provincial Buddhist Patriarch), a source from Takeo told Sralanh Khmers yesterday that since the day the “Tep Vong 07 January” monks (07 January is the date the Vietnamese army invaded Cambodia), accompanied by several dozens of killer-bodyguards, defrocked Monk Tim Sakhorn in that pagoda. The pagoda members no longer became generous to the monks as they used to be. Buddhist laymen and laywomen, who usually pray at the pagoda during holy days, stop coming to the pagoda, and during the recent Binda and Pchum Binda festival, members of the pagoda decided to celebrate the occasion at other pagodas instead, and the Siha Ratanaram pagoda was very quiet during this major Buddhist festival.
Similarly to Siha Ratanaram pagoda in Takeo, the Unalom and Langka pagodas which serve as refuge to the 07 January monks who came out to beat up peaceful Khmer Krom demonstrating monks in April of this year, and who followed the Yuon orders to defrock Monk Tim Sakhorn and handing him over to VN to be jailed and sentenced there, these 07 January monks were rejected by Buddhist followers. Even monks who came out of these two pagodas in Phnom Penh – where the 07 January monk-king (Tep Vong) and his 07 January subordinate (Sao Chan Thol) reside – to beg for alms, Buddhist followers would avoid giving alms to them. Buddhist followers noted that the 07 January monk leaders are nothing but evil and morally wicked.
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