Dear
LICADHO and ADHOC
It
will be apparent to both of your oganizations, if you have read any of my blog,
that the case against David Fletcher rests upon the proposition that a woman’s
hymen can grow back after she has been ‘brutally raped’ by a man. This is the
position that has been adopted by both the Phnom Penh Municipal Court and Action pour les Enfants (APLE Cambodia).
Do
LICADHO and ADHOC also believe that it is possible for a woman’s hymen to grow
back, her virginity restored, after being raped? If not, or if you think it
highly unlikely, you should be taking an interest in the case of David
Fletcher. You have not, to date.
Yes, David Fletcher is a fat 70 year old man who used to works with children in the Phnom Penh rubbish dump and so fits the classic pedophile profile. But then Scott Neeson is a skinny 54 year old who works with children also. Indeed, there are many middle and more than middle aged men (myself included) who work with children. We are all easy prey for NGOs such as APLE that are less interested in evidence, facts and the truth than they are with results – another ‘pedophile’ in jail. By keeping up a constant stream of convictions, such NGOs justify their own existence and encourage donors and sponsors to keep opening their wallets. As a business model it is flawless. That innocent men go to jail in the practical application of this business model is an overhead expense which, fortunately, is met by the men so convicted.
Yes, David Fletcher is a fat 70 year old man who used to works with children in the Phnom Penh rubbish dump and so fits the classic pedophile profile. But then Scott Neeson is a skinny 54 year old who works with children also. Indeed, there are many middle and more than middle aged men (myself included) who work with children. We are all easy prey for NGOs such as APLE that are less interested in evidence, facts and the truth than they are with results – another ‘pedophile’ in jail. By keeping up a constant stream of convictions, such NGOs justify their own existence and encourage donors and sponsors to keep opening their wallets. As a business model it is flawless. That innocent men go to jail in the practical application of this business model is an overhead expense which, fortunately, is met by the men so convicted.
 |
| David Fletcher in Phnom Penh dump 2009 |
This
being Cambodia, APLE could well sue me for defamation for writing (and
publishing) these last few sentences so let me be as clear as I possibly can
be:
Since
September 2010, APLE has known that Yang Dany was a virgin at the time that
David Fletcher was charged, in July 2010, with having raped her 15 months
previously. Though the entire trial process, conducted in secret, APLE was
prepared to push the rape line, to insist that rape had occurred, despite the
medical evidence that no rapes had taken place. As of late October 2014, and
just days away from a court hearing, APLE is, it seems, sticking with its
story: David Fletcher raped Yang Dany but her hymen grew back!
APLE
has a problem, however – namely that Yang Dany herself has told me and two
journalists that no rapes took place. That no rapes took place is backed up by
her mother – the one who made the original complaint and asked for $30,000 in
compensation.
Yang
Dany and her mother’s confession places APLE in an awkward position, to say the
least. Its lawyers claim that the rapes took place whilst the victim of the
alleged rapes insists that she was not raped. How does APLE resolve this
problem?
One
way out, for APLE, the most honourable course of action, would be for APLE’s
lawyers to appear in court on 27th Oct, acknowledge that Yang Dany’s
hymen was intact at the time David Fletcher was convicted of her rape and acknowledge
that their client now denied she was raped. APLE’s own lawyers could tell the judges that, under these circumstances, they had no objection to Mr
Fletcher being granted a re-trial.
Alternatively,
APLE’s lawyers could allege in court on Monday 27th Oct that I (or someone else) had either paid Yang
Dany or intimidated her into changing her testimony. This would be quite a
reasonable proposition for the court to consider if it were not for the medical
report indicating that Yang Dany’s hymen was intact. In an open court, APLE’s
lawyers would have a hard time convincing the observers present that Yang
Dany’s hymen had grown back. These observers, in accordance with Cambodian law,
would include representatives of human rights organizations, journalists, NGOs
and members of the public. The presiding judges would be well aware that their
actions in court were being scrutinized and would be reported on by the media
and commented on by observers. It would
be difficult for them to accept the grown-back-hymen story in court without
looking somewhat foolish.
APLE
will be as aware of this fact as I am and so could try to circumvent this
particular problem by requesting of the court that the hearing be held ‘in
camera’ on Monday. This would result in there being no journalists present to
report and no NGOs (human rights or otherwise) present to observe. Under such
circumstances the judges might feel a little freer to accept the grown-back-hymen
story.
If
I were a senior member of APLE management and desperate to maintain the
credibility of the organization at any cost, I would, today, be having a quiet
word with the judges, asking them to declare the court proceedings ‘in camera’
in the hope that in the absence of any scrutiny the status quo will be
maintained – David Fletcher serving a 10 year jail sentence and APLE heralding
his conviction as a battle won in the war against the scourge of pedophilia.
LICADHO
and ADHOC cannot simply sit on their hands here and pretend that David Fletcher’s
case has been and continues to be conducted in accordance with the Cambodian
Code of Criminal Procedure. Your silence, your failure to have representatives
present in court on Monday 27th Oct could well contribute to Mr
Fletcher spending the rest of his life in jail.
I
think that you will agree that Mr Fletcher is entitled to a fair trial. I hope
that you will agree that for LICADHO and ADHOC to turn a blind eye, to remain
silent, is not an option.
I
have appended below the text of one of the documents David Fletcher will be
presenting to the court on Monday. I believe that this document makes an
overwhelmingly strong case that Mr Fletcher is entitled to a ‘re-trial’ – the
words ‘re-trial’ put in brackets only because there has been no proper trial to
date.
best
wishes
James
Ricketson
DAVID
FLETCHER’S STATEMENT TO THE COURT ON 27TH OCT 2014
Article 44. Opening of Judicial
Investigation
“In the case
of a felony, the Prosecutor shall open a judicial investigation. The judicial
investigation shall be based upon the initial submission provided to the investigating
judge. The initial submission (to be prepared by the Prosecutor) includes: A summary of
the facts….
The initial submission shall be dated and signed.
These formalities
shall be strictly complied with or the initial submission shall be void.”
I was not provided with a signed and
dated summary of the facts before my trial?
Article 93. Interrogation Records
“For each
interrogation, a written record shall be established. The written record shall
be an accurate account of the interrogated person’s responses. The interrogated
person shall sign or affix his finger-print to each page of the written
record.”
I was not provided with copies of signed statements by Yang
Dany and her mother Kheang Sekun?
Article 124.
Introductory Submissions
“In compliance
with Article 44 (Commencement of Judicial Investigation) of this Code, a
judicial investigation is opened by the introductory submission of the Royal
Prosecutor….An investigating judge may not conduct any investigative acts in
the absence of an introductory submission.”
I was not provided with a copy of this ‘introductory
submission’? If there was no ‘introductory submission’, no investigation could
have taken place in accordance with Cambodian law.
Article 127.
Investigation of Inculpatory and Exculpatory Evidence
“An
investigating judge, in accordance with the law, performs all investigations
that he deems useful to ascertaining the truth. An investigating judge has the
obligation to collect inculpatory as well as exculpatory evidence.”
No investigating or trial judge, no policeman, no member of
the Anti-Human Trafficking unit has ever asked me to present exculpatory
evidence in support of my insistence that I am not guilty
Article 133.
Investigative Actions Requested by Charged Persons
”At any time during a judicial investigation, the charged person may
ask the investigating judge to interrogate him, question a civil party or
witness, conduct a confrontation or visit a site. The request shall be in
writing with a statement of reasons. If the investigating judge does not
grant the request, he shall issue a rejection order within one month after
receiving the request. This order shall state the reasons. The Prosecutor and
the charged person shall be notified of the order without delay.”
I have never been informed that I had a legal right to ask the
investigating judge to interrogate me. This would have been difficult, of
course because I was in jail in Thailand.
Article 143.
Notification of Placement under Judicial Investigation
“When
a charged person appears for the first time, the investigating judge shall
check his identity, inform him of the imputed act and its legal qualification,
and receive his statement after informing him of the right to remain silent.
This notification shall be mentioned in the written record of the first
appearance.”
I have never been informed of my right to remain silent? I
have never appeared before an investigating judge to answer questions?
Article 126. Placing
Suspect under Judicial Investigation
“The
investigating judge shall inform the charged person of his rights to choose a
lawyer or to have a lawyer appointed according to the Law on the Bar.”
I was never informed by an investigating judge of my right to
either choose a lawyer or have one appointed? I was not aware that a trial was
taking place until after it had been completed?
Article 145.
Presence of Lawyer during Interrogation
“When a
charged person has a lawyer, the investigating judge shall summons the lawyer
at least five days before the interrogation takes place. During that period,
the lawyer may examine the case file. A charged person can be interrogated only
in the presence of his lawyer.”
As I had no lawyer it was not possible for the investigating
judge summon him 5 days before an interrogation. No interrogation has ever
taken place.
Article 206. Statement of
Charged Persons and Reasons for Provisional Detention
“The
investigating judge who orders the provisional detention of a charged person
shall issue an order containing reasons. The investigating judge’s reasons in
the order shall be based on the provisions of Article 205 (Reasons for
Provisional Detention) of this Code. The Royal Prosecutor and the charged
person shall be immediately notified of the decision.”
I was not notified of the reasons why I was charged.
Article 247. Closing Order
“If
the judge considers that the facts constitute a felony, a misdemeanor or a
petty offense, he shall decide to indict the charged person before the trial
court. The order shall state the facts being charged and their legal
qualifications.”
I have never been provided with an order that states the facts
relating to the charges made against me.
Article 252.
Mandatory Rules
“128
(Assistance of Court Clerks) of this Code.
Proceedings shall also be null and
void if the violation of any substantial rule or procedure stated in the Code
or any provisions concerning criminal procedure affects the interests of the
concerned party. Especially, rules and procedures which intend to guarantee the
rights of the defense have a substantial nature.”
I believe that many violations of the Cambodian Code of
Criminal Procedure have occurred and that I am entitled, in accordance with
Cambodian law, to a re-trial.
• Article 305. Appearance of Accused upon Indictment
“According to
Article 249 (Provisions of Closing Orders in Relation to Provisional Detention
and Judicial Supervision) of this Code, the order to keep the accused in
provisional detention will expire after four months. If the accused has not
been brought before the court within this period, the accused shall be
automatically released. A judgment on the merits of the case shall be made
within a reasonable time period.”
I have been in jail for four and a half years now, unable to
unable to present a defense to the Phnom Penh Municipal court.
Article 316. Public
Nature of Trial Hearing and Confidentiality
“Trial
hearings shall be conducted in public. However, the court may order a
complete or partial in-camera hearing, if it considers that a public hearing
will cause a significant danger to the public order or morality.”
Did thePhnom Penh Municipal court order an in-camera hearing
because it believed that the facts of this case were likely to cause a
significant danger to the public order or morality?
Article 318.
Establishment of Order in Hearing
“The presiding
judge shall conduct and lead the trial hearing. The presiding judge shall
guarantee the free exercise of the right to defense.”
As I was not in court on the day of the trial I did not have
free exercise of my right to a defense.
Article 321.
Evidence Evaluation by Court
“Unless it is
provided otherwise by law, in criminal cases all evidence is admissible. The
court has to consider the value of the evidence submitted for its examination,
following the judge’s intimate conviction….The judgment of the court may be
based only on the evidence included in the case file or which has been
presented at the hearing.”
Why was evidence that had no bearing at all on the charges
that had been laid against me (rape) allowed to be introduced by NGOs?
Article 325.
Interrogation of Accused
“The presiding
judge shall inform the accused of the charges that he is accused of and conduct
the questioning of the accused. The presiding judge shall ask any questions
which he believes to be conducive to ascertaining the truth. The presiding
judge has a duty to ask the accused both inculpatory and exculpatory
questions.”
At no time did the presiding judge inform me of the charges
that had been laid against me. At no
time did the presiding judge question me. I was in jail in Thailand at the time
of the trial.
I submit to the
court that there have been sufficient breaches of the Cambodian Code of
Criminal Procedure to render the original verdict of ‘guilty’ to be null and
void.
David
John Fletcher
27th
Oct 2014
NGOs like APLE need a constant supply of pedophiles to make their business model work. If the supply of pedophiles dries up, their funding dries up. If they can't find real pedophiles they have to find anyone who might fit the bill and set them up. Otherwise they go out of business. Perhaps they catch some real pedophiles, I don't know. It is sure as hell certain that lots of men in jail now after so-called APLE investigations are innocent. APLE is a scam and should be exposed for what it is.
ReplyDeleteFat middle aged foreigners have no legal or human rights in Cambodia. They become suspects the moment they arrive in the country and easy targets the moment they so much as speak to a young boy or girl. Licadho and Ad Hoc subscribe to this way of thinking and see the imprisonment of a few innocent foreigners as a small price to pay for scaring the shit out of all those genuine pediphiles who come to Cambodia to sexually abuse children. These men do exist and tracking them down is difficult, there can be no doubt about that. But in their eagerness to catch real pediophiles the NGO community has to be very careful not to imprison innocent men with fake evidence.
ReplyDeleteWhat the fuck is Fletcher doing holding hands with little girls. How much evidence do you need that Fletch is a scumbag kiddie-fiddler who got his just desert.
ReplyDeleteYour use of the English language verges on the poetic, Anonymous. My guess is that you are a school teacher - in Cambodia to teach kids English. As for the notional that any man who holds the hand of a young girl must, by definition, be a pedophile, this is not worthy of comment.
DeleteJames, there are a few things you do not understand, despite your having been coming to Cambodia for 19 years. (1) There is no NGO community as such. They are all in competition with each other for the same limited funds. (2) The heads of the key human rights organizations, mostly women, are friends with the heads of the very NGOs they should be holding accountable for human rights abuses. You don’t investigate your friend! (3) Just as everyone within the ‘NGO community’ knew for years that Somaly Mam was a pathological liar, so too does everyone know that APLE is an NGO with no scruples that uses innocent (and, on occasion, guilty) men as fodder in its dishonest media campaigns. Licadho and Ad Hoc know this but will remain silent for fear of being shunned by all the rich and powerful NGOs who are likewise in the business of manufacturing victims to keep their particular funding model operational. Just as APLE will never respond to your letters, not will Licadho or Ad Hoc. Nor will they be in court on Monday to observe. If they were it would be difficult for them to pretend that Fletcher’s legal and human rights had been respected – as is required on the unwritten law that neither human rights organization will criticize NGOs whose staff members they may be going out to dinner with next Friday night. Sorry to be so pessimistic but these are realities of which you should be aware.
ReplyDeleteI do understand all that you write of, ‘Anonymous’. The NGO industry is based on the premise that the Cambodian people are, en masse, children unable to take care of themselves; victims of one kind or another in desperate need of rescue. We from the developed world, we kind-hearted Westerners, are here to alleviate poverty, encourage the development of civil society, protect the human rights of Cambodians and so on. Such an industry model (of which APLE is but one of many exponents) requires a continual supply of victims. If these dry up, the model collapses and a whole host of NGOs would be out of a job. God forbid! But wait, its all OK because all these NGOs are committed to ‘capacity building’ – teaching Cambodians to be self-sufficient! I can but laugh when I hear this as I see so little evidence of it.
DeleteIn 19 years of coming to Cambodia I find it difficult to find any examples of the international donor community, NGOs, being successful in their stated aims. There are as many desperately poor people as there were 19 years ago – the only difference being that many of these poor people, who had homes and land 19 years ago, have had their homes and land stolen from them by the government or its partners in crime – the kleptocracy that steals whatever it can of Cambodia’s natural resources with the complicity of a corrupt government, corrupt bureaucracy and corrupt judiciary. And as these human rights abuses have occurred, for close to 2 decades now in my own experience, human rights organizations have expressed their ‘concern’s on countless occasions (in reports too numerous to mention)but been completely and totally incapable of doing anything about such human rights (and legal rights) abuses.
I have met many good people within human rights organizations and within NGOs but even they seem incapable to questioning whether their presence in Cambodia is actually improving the lot of the Cambodian people (the poor and the powerless) or propping up a corrupt government that has come to rely on these NGOs to provide the social services that the government then has no need to provide. And so it is that the ‘NGO community’ becomes the social services arm of the corrupt government – against whom it can constantly rail for being corrupt! And in the meantime the donations and sponsorships keep rolling in – everyone pretending that Somaly Mam was an exception to the rule. Somaly Mam is an exception only in the sense that she was eventually exposed by the media – half a decade after it was common knowledge that she was a liar and a con-woman. By casting Somaly Mam as an ‘outlier’ the NGO can get back to business as usual and turn a blind eye to all of the Somaly Mam style scams operating in Cambodia.
Imagine how cheap rents would be in Phnom Penh if all the NGO's left not to mention black Lexus going for a dime keep up your incredible research and reporting James .
ReplyDeleteDex
Yes, I can't help but think sometimes that the Cambodian people might be better off in the long run if all NGOs (or most) simply left the country. I simply do not see what, collectively, they have achieved in the past 19 years other than to write lots of reports about how dreadful it is (and how 'concerned' they are) that the Cambodian people are screwed by their own government on a regular basis. Yes, there are some exceptions to this. SOme great exceptions. However, because there is no monitoring of NGOs, no-one to whom they are accountable, any con artist can set up shop here, find someone to 'rescue' and rake in the donations and sponsorship monies. In the case of children removed from their families I hope, one day, when true democracy comes to Cambodia, that there will be a massive class action suit taken out against the likes of the Cambodian Children's Fund and Citipointe church for the illegal removal of children from their families.
DeleteAnd yes, Dex, when the NGOs leave town there will be lots of flash cars going very cheap.
So who is the new owner of snake infested Khmer 440 forum and what happen to Peter Hogan
ReplyDeleteLazy Susan
The new administrator of Khmer440 (who politely informed me that I was making a fool of myself with this blog site) told me that he was not Scott Neeson. He chose to remain anonymous, however - the hallmark of those with something to hide or fearful of being held accountable for their actions and words. There a slightly hysterical and paranoid quality in the new administrator's communications with me that reminded me a lot of Scott but, who knows! If Scott is the new owner, he is not going to admit it, is he? One thing is certain, however - namely that critics of Scott, or anyone who asks him questions he does not like having asked of him, is banned from Kmer440.
DeleteAs for where Peter Hogan is now, I think that he is teaching kids english in school. A tip, Peter: "Dessert" in the sense you were using the word, is plural and has two s's in it."
The will turn a blind eye. Pedophiles have no human rights. Suspected pedophiles have no human rights. Men who seem to fit the pedophile profile have no human rights. All men are rapists. The are guilty by virtue of the fact that they are men
ReplyDeleteIt's called FEMINISM.
DeleteThe new "public enemy":
1) male
2) not enough young anymore
3) not enough attractive
4) white
5) low economical status
The only gateway is wahabi islam.