...prostitution and pornography charges dropped. Accused now of 'hindering'!

It has occurred to someone that the ‘prostitution’ and ‘pornography’ charges against me are not going to stick so now I am being charged with ‘hindering’. To be specific, ‘hindering’ Citipointe church in its efforts to ‘help prostitutes’!

Two letters here – the first to Australia’s Ambassador to Cambodia and the second to Citipointe’s Pastor Brian Mulheran – who last year issued a not-so-thinly-veiled threat that have me ‘forcibly removed.’!

Ms Alison Burrow

Ambassador to Cambodia

Australian Embassy

16B, National Assembly Street

Sangkat Tonle Bassac

Lhan Chamkamon,

Phnom Penh, Cambodia                                                                                 

3^rd Feb 2014

Dear Ambassador

In the event that I am arrested later this week, I am placing the following on record:

On 28^th Feb a policeman arrived at my hotel to present me with a document prepared by the Phnom Penh court. He asked me to sign it with my thumb print. Given that I do not read Khmer I declined. When I had the document translated I found that it made little sense to me and, again, I declined to place my thumb print on it.

The following text (English translation) suggested that I was being accused of  being, in some way, involved in ‘prostitution’:

…accused Mr. Jame Ricketson, male, aged 64, Australian, 
of prostitution (the act frustrating the protection, assistance, or correction by the organization) committed in Phnom Penh in 2010 according to article 25 and 26 of the law on suppression against human trafficking and sexual exploitation. 
order Mr. Jame Ricketson, male, aged 64…to appear at Phnom Penh Municipal court at questioning room “M” 3rd floor on 07 March 2014 Time at 2:30 PM 
In order to question the case of prostitution (the act frustrating the protection, assistance, or correction by the organization). 
The above person shall bring all documents concerning with the case, if any. 
In case the above name fails to appear on the schedule, we will issue the arrest warrant

A few days later a journalist spoke with the court and was informed that no, I was not being accused of being a prostitute,  or involved in prostitution, but with posting pornography on my blog. I wrote the attached letter to Pastor Leigh Ramsey of the Brisbane-based Citipointe church seeking evidence from her that I had posted pornography on my blog.

By this morning, 3^rd March, the accusation had changed to my ‘hindering’ an unnamed organization in its attempts to help prostitutes.

It is clearly Citipointe church that has brought one of the three above-mentioned charges against me or, perhaps, all three. I don’t know and, despite my asking, in a letter, the court has not informed me. I have attached a copy, in Khmer, of the letter I wrote to the court – in both Khmer and English.

If I were to attend an interview with the police and they refused to tell me who had brought the charges against me, the exercise of being ‘interviewed’ would be a futile one. In the absence of the name of my accuser, how could the evidence that my accuser has presented to the police of my ‘hindering’ be presented to me to respond to? In the absence of evidence, what would there be to discuss?

If  the interview was to be conducted in the absence of evidence and without me being officially told that the accusations came from Citipointe, I would walk out. The police could then interpret this as my ‘hindering’ their investigation!

But let’s just say I was prepared to sit through an ‘evidence free’ interview, without knowing, officially, who has laid the charges? Given that I do not know if I am being charged with one or all three of the above charges, how can I possibly know what documents to bring along to prove my innocence?

In a proper court of law it is up to a prosecutor to present evidence of the guilt of the accused. It is not up to the accused to provide proof of his or her innocence? Cambodia seems to be an exception to this basic legal principle!

And if I turn up for this ‘interview’ without documents, will this also be viewed as evidence that I am ‘hindering’ the investigation?

In the event that I am being charged with ‘hindering’ (presuming that there is such a crime!) I could easily prove my innocence  by providing copies of all my correspondence with Citipointe this past five years – during which time I have been acting as an advocate for the parents of two girls illegally removed from their family by the church in 2008. These amount more than 150. Should I present all 150 of them to the police in English or in Khmer? To have around 150 letters translated into Khmer would be beyond my financial capacity to accomplish. And if it turns out that it is, after all, the posting of pornography I am being accused of, the expense of having the documents translated will have been wasted.

If, indeed, it is ‘hindering’ I am being accused of and not being a prostitute or posting porn, the question then arises:

How did Geoff Armstrong, Executive Director of the Global Development Group, know on 24^th Feb, two days before the document was prepared by the court, on 26^th Feb, that I was to be charged with ‘hindering’?

In the absence of any clarity about who has brought these non-specific charges against me and what the nature of the charges is, I will not attend an interview with the police. If this results in my arrest, so be it. This is far preferable to attending an ‘interview’ under the circumstances outlined above. If nothing else my arrest for ‘hindering’ an unnamed NGO  will highlight how laughably incompetent the Cambodian judiciary is and raise some questions in the media about both Citipointe and the Global Develop Group’s funding of the church. Perhaps, with me in jail, it will occur to those who should have been asking Citipointe questions this past five years, to start asking questions. The first of which should be:

On what legal basis did the church remove Rosa and Chita from their family in 2008? To be more specific, on 11^th August 2008, when Rebecca Brewer told Rosa and Chita’s parents that their daughters would stay with the church’s ‘SHE Rescue Home’ until they were 18, on what legal basis did it do so?

This is a question that you, as Australia’s Ambassador, could also ask of Citipointe – an Australian church that runs the ‘SHE Rescue Home’.

best wishes

James Ricketson

Pastor Brian Mulheran

322 Wecker Road

Carindale

QLD 4152                                                                                          

4^th March 2014

Dear Pastor Mulheran

I am writing in relation to an article that appears in this morning’s ‘Cambodia Daily’, dated 4^th March 2014. I will quote from it:

“In an email to a reporter in May, Citiponte Executive Pastor said the church was adhering to its memorandum of understanding with the government and all relevant government directives.”

Do you, Pastor Mulheran, believe that the parents of girls removed in accordance with such a memorandum of understanding have a right to be given a copy of it so that (a) they can know why their daughters were removed, (b) what their rights as parents are and (c) what they must do to get their daughters back?

Chanti, Chhork and I have been asking Citipointe church for a copy of this memorandum of understanding for five years now; for copies of any and all agreements and/or contracts Citipointe church has entered into with Cambodian authorities that give your church the rights it has exercised. What possible reason can you have for withholding these from Chanti and Chhork?

Please supply a copy of these documents, today, to Chanti and Chhork (with me in Phnom Penh) and all of those to whom I am copying this letter. If you do not, I trust that members of the media will ask you why you refuse to allow Chanti and Chhork to have copies of them. They might also ask why it is that in the past five years your church has not given $1 to help this family become self-sufficient.

My second question for you today, Pastor Mulheran, is this:

“Is Geoff Armstrong a member or parishioner of Citipointe church?”

My third question:

“Did you or Pastor Leigh Ramsey inform Geoff Armstrong on or before 24^th Feb 2014 that I was to be charged with ‘hindering’ Citipointe in its efforts to ‘help prostitutes’? If so, how did Citipointe come to be in possession of the contents of the court document two days before it was presented to me stamped with the date 26^th Feb?”

This question is particularly pertinent this week in light of my impending arrest. On 21^st Feb 2013, in a letter to me, you issued a scarcely veiled threat to have me ‘forcibly removed’ . You wrote:

“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 of all different kinds their deserved reputation for intimidation. I will leave it to others to interpret your comments of 21^st Feb.

If Citipointe has decided to ‘arrange’ to have me arrested and convicted and banned from coming to Cambodia, surely you could have thought of a better crime than ‘hindering’! Even in Cambodia I think it would be difficult for a judge to find me guilty of ‘hindering’.

If you have ‘arranged’ to have the charge of ‘hindering’ brought against me you can also arrange for the charge to be dropped because I can assure you I will not be attending any meeting with the police later this week under the circumstances that prevail at present. If Judge Pu Povsun wishes to issue an warrant for my arrest, so be it.

Whilst a Brisbane based church stealing the children of materially poor Cambodians may not be ‘news’ (they are, after all poor, dark skinned and Asian!) the arrest of a white Anglo Saxon Australian on charges of ‘hindering’ will be news. I will quite happily be arrested if this leads to the media and the relevant regulatory authorities in Australia asking Citipointe to justify its removal of Rosa and Chita in 2008 and its continued retention of them in March 2014.

That Citipointe’s illegal removal of Rosa and Chita should happen with the tacit approval of the Global Development Group, disbursing $25 million a year in tax-deductible Australian aid, will certainly raise serious questions in the minds of donors when the circumstances surrounding my arrest lead them to read my Global Development Group blog:

http://globaldevelopmentgroup.blogspot.com/

And parishioners of Citipointe may have cause to think twice about donating to the church when they realize that, through the ‘SHE Rescue Home’, their donations and sponsorship monies are being used to break up families and indoctrinate children into the Christian faith. They will be able to find out how this has come about by visiting:

http://citipointechurch.blogspot.com/

best wishes

James Ricketson