18 August 2007 By Mayarith – Radio Free Asia Translated from Khmer by Socheata More than 100 Khmer Krom people, including Khmer Krom monks, coming from 24 different states in the US have gathered in front of the Cambodian embassy in Washington DC to demand that the Cambodian government and supreme patriarch Tep Vong take responsibility on the fate of former Khmer Krom Monk Tim Sakhorn who is currently jailed in Vietnam. Recently, a Vietnamese embassy representative in Phnom Penh declared that former Monk Tim Sakhorn is currently jailed in Vietnam and he is facing a sentencing stemming from a criminal accusation of involvement with the activities of the Khmer Kampuchea-Krom Federation (KKF) – an organization currently involved in the legal liberation of the Kampuchea Krom lands. Venerable Rong By, the leader of the demonstrators, said about the protest in front of the Cambodian embassy: “The main goal of more than 100 Khmer Krom people and Khmer Krom monks coming from all over the US, is to demand that the Cambodian government conducts an investigation into the disappearance of former Abbot Tim Sakhorn, and into his incarceration by the Vietnamese authority until now. Our second goal is to demand that the Cambodian government be responsible should Monk Tim Sakhorn be tortured or killed by the authoritarian Vietnamese government, and to demand that the Cambodian government intervene and be unconditionally responsible.” Kim Vanny, a representative of the demonstrators from the US State of Virginia, said that he wants to push the Cambodian ambassador to help intervene. “We want to ask the embassy to send our demands to the Cambodian government so that it will help resolve in the case of a Khmer monk who is jailed by the Yuons (Vietnamese)…” The protest in front of the Cambodian embassy on Friday took place after another demonstration was held in Australia to make the same demands to both the Cambodian and Vietnamese ambassadors. On Friday, 2 representatives of the Cambodian embassy came out to receive the petition handed by the protesters. They promised to the Khmer Krom people that they will send the petition of the government leader.
