# 54 Why is the Phnom Penh Post ignoring APLE'S complicity the Phnom Penh Municipal Court's refusal to David Fletcher of a fair trial?

James Ricketson

316 Whale Beach Road

Palm Beach 2108

Sydney, Australia

jamesricketson@gmail.com

Chad Williams

Editor in Chief Department

Phnom Penh Post

Charlotte Pert

Editorial

Phnom Penh Post

2^nd Dec 2014

Dear Chad and Charlotte

On 14^th Nov I wrote to David Boyle the following:

Dear David Boyle

On 21^st March 2011, the Phnom Penh Post published an article entitled “Thailand To Extradite UK Rape Suspect”, written by Cheang Sokha. The article contained some inaccuracies that have never been corrected.

“THAILAND has reportedly ordered the extradition of a British man wanted in Cambodia on charges of sexually assaulting two underage girls.”

Mr Fletcher was not and has never been charged with “sexually assaulting two underage girls”

“David Fletcher, 65, fled the Kingdom last year after the British tabloid The Sunday Mirror alleged that he was using a charity he had founded, the Rubbish Dump project, to gain access to young girls at the Stung Meanchey dump site in Phnom Penh.”

Mr Fletcher did not ‘flee’ Cambodia. He had arranged to leave Cambodia well before Andrew Drummond’s article was published. This is well documented.

“Samleang Seila, director of the child rights group Action Pour Les Enfants, said Fletcher was set to stand trial at Phnom Penh Municipal Court on March 31 for allegedly raping two underage girls. Cambodian and Thai officials are still in the process of arranging Fletcher’s return, Samleang Seila said.”

Either Samleang Seila has been misquoted by the Phnom Penh Post or he is a liar. Mr Fletcher has never been charged with “raping two underage girls.”

Given that Mr Fletcher was not charged with the rape of two girls, why has the Phnom Penh Post never questioned Samleang Seila about his false allegation and published a retraction? By allowing this information to remain in the public domain, uncorrected, the Phnom Penh Post has contributed to the destruction of Mr Fletcher’s reputation.

The rest of my letter to David can be found at:

http://cambodia440.blogspot.com.au/2014/11/36-will-phnom-penh-post-correct-errors.html

I did not receive a response from David and nor has the Phnom Penh Post sought to correct information published in the newspaper that was demonstrably factually incorrect.

Nor has the Phnom Penh Post reported in any way on David Fletcher’s recent court appearance on 20^th Nov – despite having a journalist present in court. Why is this? Does the Phnom Penh Post believe that there is nothing newsworthy in a man being denied a trial by the same judges who, three weeks earlier, had promised him one?

At the very heart of this matter is the question:

Is a man accused of a crime in Cambodia entitled to a fair trial?

As we all know, innocent Cambodian men and women are denied the right to a fair trial every day. The difference between these cases and David Fletcher’s is that the Phnom Penh Post reports on the former but not the latter. Why?

Questions proliferate:

- Has the Phnom Penh Post thought to ask Thierry Darnaudet or Samleang Siela for their response to the allegation (made by Yang Dany herself) that their client was told to leave the country and not attend court?

- Has any Phnom Penh Post journalist thought to ask Thierry Darnaudet or Samleang Siela if Action Pour les Enfants paid the money required by Yang Dany to acquire a Cambodian passport at very short notice?

- Or, in the event that Yang Dany entered China illegally has any Phnom Penh Post journalist thought to ask Thierry Darnaudet or Samleang Siela if Action Pour les Enfants arranged to have her trafficked?

- Has the Phnom Penh Post thought to ask the Minister for Justice why it is that the same Phnom Penh Municipal Court judges who promised Mr Fletcher a re-trial on 27^th Oct 2014, denied him this trial on 20^th Nov 2014 and refused to look at any evidence that Mr Fletcher had in court with him or to even make a statement o the court?

- Has the Phnom Penh Post asked Naly Pilorge if she was a co-founder of APLE and, if so, why it is that she goes to such lengths to distance herself from the NGO; to ask whether she or LICADHO receive any financial remuneration from Actions Pour les Enfants?

Some important questions from June 2010 also remain unanswered and, it seems, unasked by anyone in the media:

- How was it, in the week after Andrew Drummond’s 20^th June 2010 article, David Fletcher had ceased to be (in Yang Dany’s own words) her ‘fiance’, ‘boyfriend’’ ‘sweetheart’ and ‘a good man’ and become a rapist?

- Has the Phnom Penh Post made any effort at all to understand what took place during that week to cause such a dramatic turnaround?  Might the prospect of earning $30,000 in compensation have influenced Kheang Sekun’s decision to press charges against Fletcher? Why was it that 18 year old Yang Dany did not press the charges but, with some reluctance, allowed her mother to do so?

- Is it pure coincidence that David Fletcher, with no evidence of any crime committed by him on 20^th June 2010, became a rapist one week after Scott Neeson’s comment to Andrew Drummond was published?

“If you can get this guy sent packing you are doing a service to the children here.” 

Does it not occur to the Phnom Penh Post that there are some striking similarities in so many cases that involve Action Pour les Enfants – men being convicted of rape when the medical evidence states that no rape took place?

The questions are legion but it seems that the Phnom Penh Post is loathe to ask any questions at all that might cast doubt of the honesty and integrity not just of APLE but of Scott Neeson.

The only way that David Fletcher can be guilty of raping Yang Dany is by accepting the proposition, presented by the judges at the Phnom Penh Municipal Court, that a young woman’s hymen can grow back.

Whilst David Fletcher is entitled to a fair trial, there is an important principle involved here also – namely that all who appear before a Cambodian court are entitled to a fair trial whether they be Khmer or expatriate. By remaining silent in this case, when the evidence is overwhelmingly against the possibility that David Fletcher is guilty of rape, the Phnom Penh Post is giving a green light to APLE to continue to set up other men in the future – secure in the knowledge that the Post will not ask the tough questions that need to be asked of this NGO.

best wishes

James Ricketson