17 August 2007 By Kim Pov Sottan – Radio Free Asia Translated from Khmer by Socheata Numerous Khmer Krom monks along with representatives of about 10 Khmer Krom organizations demanded, on Friday, that the Cambodian authority bring back Monk Tim Sakhorn, the former abbot of the Phnom Den North pagoda, from Vietnam. The demand was made at the Samaky Raingsey pagoda, located in Stung Meanchey commune. About 50 Khmer Krom monks sat in meditation next to the demanding banners, they also recited prayers, and gave speeches in Cambodian, English, and Vietnamese, about the hardship faced by Khmer Krom people under the Vietnamese oppression and the violation of rights involved in the defrocking on Monk Tim Sakhorn. Venerable Yoeung Sin, the leader of the Khmer Krom monks, gave an emotional speech during the occasion by saying: “They gave their children to the tiger to eat. Never before have parents taken such (barbaric) action. In the name of Khmer Krom monks, I’m very hurt by the sad fate faced by all Khmer Kampuchea Krom people. As you can see, wherever they live, in Kampuchea Krom, the Yuons (Vietnamese) said that Khmer are not allowed to join the Buddhist order, they do not allow Khmer Krom to study, they do not want them to follow the Buddhist rites. When we arrived in Cambodia, we are also oppressed without any mercy, without any pity.” The director of the Khmer Kampuchea Krom Coordination Committee (KKKCC) indicated that this is the last demand made to the Cambodian government to intervene in this case: “This morning is the last time for us to gather and make our demands. If the government leaders or (national) institutions … which include supreme patriarch Tep Vong and patriarch Non Nget, still remain indifferent in the case of Monk Tim Sakhorn, we will send a petition to the Phnom Penh municipality for the second time, to ask the permission to hold a demonstration in front of the Yuon embassy (in Phnom Penh).” Trinh Ba Cam, a representative of the Vietnamese embassy, said that Monk Tim Sakhorn will be sentenced in Vietnam because he is a Vietnamese citizen. Along with the demonstration to demand back Monk Tim Sakhorm in Cambodian, Cambodia people around the world, including those in France, Australia, Canada and the USA, have also demanded for the Vietnamese authority to release Monk Tim Sakhorm, as well as a large number of other Khmer Krom monks who are currently being jailed in Vietnam. Khieu Sopheak, spokesman for the Ministry of Information, did not provide any comment yet on this affair.