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Chanti, aged 9, working as a beggar on the streets of Phnom Penh to support herself and her mother, Vanna. This still from my 1996 documentary, SLEEPING WITH CAMBODIA, is deemed to be pornographic by Citipointe church.
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Emboldened by the failure of the police to take my iPhone from me by force in the morning (see previous blog entry) I decided to attend my ‘interview’ with the police in the afternoon after all. With adrenalin coursing through my veins and my body mildly battered, bloodied and bruised, the idea of doing nothing in the afternoon and awaiting my arrest in response to the warrant did not appeal to me. Better to confront the charges, whatever they were, and hopefully find out what evidence there was on file relating to my being a prostitute, posting porn on my blog and/or ‘hindering’ Citipointe church. I figured that the cops would have the file in front of them and I felt confident that I could manipulate my ‘interview’ with them to get a peek into it.
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| Chanti in1995 - another still from S;EEPING WITH CAMBODIA that Citipointe church deems to be porngraphic |
So, at the appointed time, 2.30 pm, I arrived at the Phnom Penh Municipal Court and sat outside Room 3B waiting to be called in for the interview. I had expected, from previous experience, that there would be a few cops in the room waiting to ask irrelevant questions (How much money did you pay for the bicycle you bought for Chanti in 1998?”) and me telling them that the question was irrelevant and demanding to know what, precisely, I had been charged with. There would be a stand-off and I would insist on being shown what was in the file in relation to charges against me. They would refuse to show me. I would threaten to walk out. They would threaten to arrest me and I would then insist on talking with Judge Phue Pov Sun. (Phou is pronounced ‘poo’!) That was my plan. However, like most plans we make in our foolish belief that we can control the future, it did not come to pass. The fickle finger of fate had other plans in store for me.
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| Chanti in 2014 - the family rice paddy behind her. |
After a short wait I was ushered into a cluttered office in which, behind a desk piled high with court documents, sat an attractive smiling woman in her mid 30s. She told me her name but I have forgotten it. She spoke very rudimentary English but was able to explain to me that she was the Clerk of the court and, it seemed, it was she who was going to question me – a difficult proposition given her poor English.
She told me with a slightly self-conscious laugh that the only English she really understood were ‘love words’. ‘Sweetheart’, for instance, and ‘kiss’. This gave rise to some laughter from the other two in the office – a man filing papers, who never seemed to stop smiling, and a cross-eyed woman sitting in front of an old electric typewriter who, I imagined, was going to take notes during the ‘interview’. The Clerk and I exchanged a few ‘love words’ (“I love you my darling,” was my contribution) and all in the office laughed. Miss Love Words blushed a little in a way that suggested she was single but would prefer not to be.
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| Chanti and baby # 6 - Poppy. |
In Cambodia you learn to expect the unexpected. It should not have surprised me that instead of three cops intent on asking me stupid questions I would be exchanging ‘love words’ with a pretty woman whose job it was to interrogate me about your involvement in prostitution and posting porn on the internet. I was surprised. Pleasantly so. I was tempted to take out my iPhone and get a photo of Miss Love Words and her colleagues but decided against pushing my luck too far.
The perpetually smiling man filing court documents could speak some rudimentary English so Miss Love Words and I could carry on the most rudimentary of conversations. She expressed her surprise that I had not arrived with either a translator or a lawyer and I told her that I did not even know what I was being charged with. She seemed a little unclear herself but extracted a brown A4 envelope which, she told me with a smile, contained ‘the evidence’. It had never been opened, she pointed out to me, but she was going to open it now. She did so. Inside there was a plastic DVD case with a DVD in it. The evidence! I asked her what the DVD was evidence of. She looked at some papers and said two words: “Profiting…prostitution.” This was not a sentence but I got the general drift.
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| Poppy and dad - Chhork |
I asked Miss Love Words if she and I could look at the DVD together so that I could see what the evidence was. She said no; that only the Judge was able to look at it. I saw this as my opening. “Could you ask the Judge to come here and look at the DVD with me?” She nodded her head and smiled, made some phone calls in Khmer, and told me that Judge Poo would be here shortly. Did I want to get a translator? She had a friend she could call. OK, I replied. She called her friend and handed me her mobile. Yes, he could translate for me and the cost would be….I cut him off, told him I was not paying a cent for a translator; that it was up to the court to provide me with one. I handed the phone back to Miss Love Words who, I think, was unaccustomed to behaviour such as mine (more bolshy than deferential) but quite impressed by it.
In due course Judge Poo appeared – a man in his late 40s with thinning grey hair and the serious unsmiling demeanour one would expect of a judge. He was accompanied by an affable young man who was going to act as interpreter. Judge Poo was clearly a bit mystified as to why he had been summonsed so I began to explain to him the circumstances that had led me to be in this interview room – starting with the illegal removal of Rosa and Chita from their family by Citipointe church. The young interpreter cut me off and explained to me that it was up to me to answer the Judge’s questions not to ask questions of him. Over the next couple of hours I would return to the question of the legality of Citipointe’s removal of the girls, only to be told each time, that it was not relevant to the charges that had been laid against me. In the battle of wills between me and Judge Poo as to who got to ask the most questions we were fairly evenly matched. He never answered mine but I could see that he was taking note of what I was saying.
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| Chanti and Chhork's family home and tuk tuk |
My ‘interview’ with Judge Poo went on for a couple of hours but here are the highlights:
(1) Citipointe’s evidence of my having profited from prostitution and the posting of pornography on the internet.
The DVD was inserted into the appropriate slot in a computer and, a few seconds later, up rolled the opening credits for my documentary SLEEPING WITH CAMBODIA. Judge Poo watched with interest, and mounting confusion, as an early credit announced the date – 1996. I explained to him that the young girl in it (Chanti aged around 9) was now a 28 year old woman who had six children – two of whom had been removed from her care by Citipointe church. Judge Poo never responded to me in English but it was clear he understood what I was saying. He spoke to me through the interpreter.
After about 15 minutes he lost interest in SLEEPING SLEEPING WITH CAMBNODIA and returned to his desk – upon which there was a rather thick folder with my name on it. He rifled through the contents looking for a particular document and, when he found it, read it very carefully. He then asked me, through the young interpreter, if I had made any profit from my documentary (SLEEPING WITH CAMBODIA). I replied that my job was making documentaries. It was my profession and, as a rule, I preferred to be paid for the work I do. (I could see no point in mentioning that in this case I had only broken even and had, in fact, made no profit.)
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| Chhork with James (left) and Kevin (right) |
It become clear from the line of Judge Poo’s questioning where it was leading. Citipointe church was asserting that by making a ‘profit’ from SLEEPING WITH CAMBODIA (which deals in part with child prostitution) I was ‘profiting’ from prostitution and guilty of posting ‘porn’ on the internet - there being some child postitutes (fully clothed) in the documentary and Chanti, aged nine, going topless in the streets of Phnom Penh. I had not posted SLEEPING on the internet (someone else had) but this did not seem to be an avenue worth exploring. It was irrelevant.
Judge Poo seemed inclined to accept the Citipointe proposition that I had profited from prostitution and the posting of porn and got a little hot under the collar when I disagreed with him quite vehemently. He told me that it was against Cambodian law to make a profit from documentaries. I let Poo know in no uncertain terms that this was nonsense. I was not at all diplomatic and I could tell from his creased brow that be not only understood what I had said but was very annoyed that I had said it. He tried to say something but I cut him off. I told him that many documentaries have been and are made in and about Cambodia and that in every case the person making the documentary makes a ‘profit.’ “Yes, but only with actors,” his reply came back to me through the interpreter – a very sweet young man who kept cautioning me to speak to Poo with respect and only answer the questions he asked.
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| Kevin |
I had no intention of treating Poo with respect if he was going to spout nonsense along the lines of only documentaries with actors in them are allowed to be made in Cambodia. Slowly, step by step, I explained to Judge Poo the difference between making a ‘profit’ from a film that deals, in part, with prostitution and making a ‘profit’ from prostitution. I have to give it to Judge Poo. He was an avid pupil. He nodded his head. He got the distinction. He backed off and did not pursue this line of questioning any longer. And, despite his brief display of annoyance, did not seem too much rattled by my less-than-deferential attitude towards him.
Judge Poo asked me if I had permission from the parents, Chanti and Chhok, to make a film about them. Yes, I did, I replied. Do you have evidence, he asked. Yes, I replied but it would be much easier if, later in the day, I were to get a specific statement from Chanti and Chhork to that effect and drop it off to his office. Judge Poo agreed to this. The business of my ‘profiting’ from prostitution and posting porn seemed to be have been adequately dealt with and was mentioned no more.
(2) Citipointe’s other accusations against me.
Through the interpreter Judge Poo began to ask me questions about the document in his hands which, it became clear, was the one that had led to the warrant being issued on 26th Feb. Before Poo even had a chance to finish his first question I asked if I could look at the document. No, he replied, I had no legal right under Cambodian law to read it. I responded (with appropriate vehemence) that I needed to read the accusations that had been made so that I could respond appropriately. No. “Under Cambodian law you have no right to read this,” the interpreter told me again with a nervous smile.
I made it clear, getting up from my seat, that I was not going to continue with the interview if I was not allowed to know what I had been accused of by Citipointe church. Poo relented and handed me the document. I was not sure whether to laugh or cry when I read the accusations Nicole Roberts had made against me on behalf of Citipointe church. I was surprised to read the date upon which this complaint against me had been made – 30th Oct 2012. 17 months previously!
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| The family back yard |
This 30th 2012 complaint had sat on Judge Poo’s desk for all this time with no attempt made to execute the warrant. After 17 months of inaction, the following sequence of events happened in rapid succession:
24th Feb. Geoff Armstrong, Executive Director of the Global Development Group (which funds Citipointe’s ‘SHE Rescue Home) writes me a letter in which he makes reference to this warrant.
26th Feb. Judge Poo signs the warrant.
28th Feb. A policeman tries to give me a copy of the warrant, written in Khmer to me in my hotel. He wants my thumb print on it immediately. If not I will be arrested.
Curiouser and curiouser I thinks to myself. How remarkable, after 17 months, that Geoff Armstrong was able, through his extraordinary psychic powers, to know about the execution of the warrant two days before Judge Poo signed it! Being a Christian, of the Pentecostal kind, has clearly given Geoff Armstrong a direct line through to God!
A Pandora’s Box of questions arises.
The Global Development Group, an Australian NGO, funds Citipointe church’s ‘SHE Rescue Home’ in which Chanti and Chhork’s daugthers are incarcerated. On 21st Feb 2013 Citipointe’s Pastor Brian Mulheran from Citipointe wrote me a letter if which he threatened to have me ‘forcibly removed’. He went on to write:
“Using the law is the last thing that we want to see happen, because for you to be convicted of a crime and serve a sentence may mean that you will never have the opportunity to re-enter Cambodia again.”
It is statements such as this that give mafias worldwide their deserved reputation for intimidation.
Joining the dots is not hard to do. Pastor Muheran’s threat, which I had dismissed this past year as the bluff and bluster of a Pentecostal bully, was coming to pass, with, at the very least, the foreknowledge of Geoff Armstrong, the Executive Director of an the Global Development Group (GDG) - an NGO that disburses $25 million a year of Australian tax-deductible donations to NGOs worldwide. At least one of these NGOs (Citipopinte’s ‘SHE Rescue Home) is in the business of illegally removing children from their families and turning them into Pentecostal Christians.
There is considerable evidence suggesting that Geoff Armstrong is a member, a parishioner, of Citipointe church - whose ‘SHE Rescue Home’ uses Australian tax dollars to break Cambodian law, to break up families, to abuse the human rights of materially poor Buddhist Cambodian parents by stealing their daughters and, through brain-washing them into Pentecostalism, winning souls for Jesus Christ.
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| Poppy and her doting grandmother, Vanna. All 8 of Vanna's children died of starvation and disease during the Pol Pot Khmer Rouge years. Chanti, born 7 years after the defeat of the Khmer Rouge, is her only surviving child. Rosa and Chita were, at the time they were stolen by Citipointe church, her only granddaughters. Vanna was heart-broken at their loss. |
In order to be able to join the dots in a way that would convince others who need to be convinced, I needed to have a copy of this court document. The joining of the dots would lead to a whole host of questions being asked in high places – presuming of course that those in high places who should be asking such questions were even remotely interested in asking them!
Judge Poo was adamant that I could not have a copy of what amounts to the ‘charge sheet’ but did, eventually, agree to my compromise suggestion – that I be allowed to copy out the allegations by hand. This I did, quoting from it verbatim and making no attempt to correct mistakes. ‘Rental’ had been rendered as ‘renal’, for instance, and the grammar was all over the place. However, I did not want to leave myself open to the accusation that I had altered this document in any way.
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| Srey Ka, daughter # 3, watches TV with her mother, brothers and grandmother |
Following, word for word, are Citipointe church’s accusations against me. My own responses for Judge Poo, indented and in bold italics, have also been included in letters to the Hon Julie Bishop, our Foreign Minister, and to AusAID:
“I am Nicole Roberts, the representative of Citipointe International and AID (CICA) located at #191 street 10BT, Sansamskol Village, Sangkat Boeung Tum Pun, Khan Meanchey, Phnom Penh, represented by Mr Kong Rady, Attorney at Law (address and telephone numbers)
Subject suing Mr James Ricketson, born on 01-04-1949, holding Passport number…of disclosing information of the vulnerable girls and hindering the act of prevention, assistance or re-education for the children not to be victims of human trafficking, committed in Phnom Penh.”
Rosa and Chita are not victims of human trafficking. They are the daughters of poor parents who were offered short-term help by Citipointe church. The evidence for this is to be found in the document dated 31st July 2008 that Citipointe tricked Chanti into signing. This document, whilst not legally binding in any way, makes it clear that it was poverty only that led Rosa and Chita’s mother and grandmother to agree to the help offered to them by Citipointe church.
What evidence does Citipointe offer to the court in support of the notion that Rosa and Chita were victims of human trafficking?
“I would like to inform the director that James Ricketson has tried to get two girls who are vulnerable child victim of human trafficking whose mother was also a child victim of sexual trafficking, out of the NGO’s shelter in order for him to continue making a film called CHANTI’S WORLD for his personal benefit.”
Rosa and Chita’s mother, Yem Chanthy, was never a victim of sexual trafficking.
What evidence does Citipointe offer to the court in support of the notion that Yem Chanthy was a victim of sexual trafficking?
CHANTI’S WORLD is a documentary record of my experiences in Cambodia since 1996. Documentary filmmaking is my profession. Chanti and her mother have been the subjects of my documentary since 1995. Her children, as they were born, joined the ‘cast’ of the documentary.
I have made no personal benefit and even good sales of the finished film will not cover the costs I have incurred this past 19 years.
“The film also intends to discover the identity of the ex-victim and vulnerable child victims of human trafficking which have already been identified on the website.”
I don’t know what this statement means.
“Recently we were informed by the girl named Chanthy Rosa, who has stayed in the centre, that James came to see her and he informed her that he has intended to take her to a foreign country but he has not communicated with us about this at all.”
I have never once visited Chanthy Rosa or her sister Chita in the ‘SHE Rescue Home’. If Citipointe church maintains that I did visit, on what date did I visit?
I have never said that I intended to take Chanthy Rosa to a foreign country. Chanthy Rosa and her sister Chita belong in Cambodia with their mother, their father, their brothers and sisters, their uncles and aunts, their village and their community. Cambodia is their home, Buddhism is their religion.
Nicole Roberts is lying.
“Therefore we have serious concerned about her safety. Mr James is trying all his means to convince the girls’ family to remove the girls from the centre so that he is able to take advantage from the girls.
Now he is paying renal fees for the girls family to stay in Samaky Village, Sangkat Russy Keo.”
I am not attempting to get Yem Chanthy and Both Chhork to remove the girls from the centre. I am supporting the parents, as their advocate, in their wish to have their daughters re-united with the family. I have been doing so for five years, since Nov 2008 when I discovered, upon having it translated, that the 31st July 2008 ‘contract’ is fraudulent.
What evidence does Citipointe church have that I intend to take advantage of the girls?
“What James has done are hindering the act of prevention, assistance or re-education for the children not to be victims of human trafficking by disclosing information and identity of the vulnerable girls from the centre for his own benefit. “
I repeat, Rosa and Chita are not victims of human trafficking. It is up to Citipointe church to provide evidence that the girls were ever victims. The day before they were recruited by Citipointe (filmed by myself) they lived in a small room just a few streets back from the river. Chanti’s mother, Vanna, was supporting the family selling vegetables in the markets.
“It is the criminal offences punishable to Law of Suppression of Human Trafficking articles 25 and 49.”
At the end of this set of questions and answers Judge Poo asked me if I had any documents to prove that I had no intention of taking Rosa to a foreign country?
to be continued…
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