05 July 2007 By Kim Pov Sottan Radio Free Asia Translated from Khmer by Socheata Relatives of Monk Time Sakhorn in Kampuchea Krom (South Vietnam) claimed that he is nowhere to be found there even though the Cambodian authority claimed that it sent him to Kampuchea Krom. Monk Tim Sakhorn’s relative made this claim following the defrocking of the monk perpetrated by the Cambodian authority last Saturday. Monk Tim Sakhorn, the abbot of the Phnom Den pagoda, located in Takeo province, was accused of undermining the friendship between Cambodia and Vietnam. Chau Mean told RFA over the phone from Kampuchea Krom that Khmer Krom people all over the place, in particular those living in Andoung Teuk district, Mort Chrouk province (Chau Doc in Vietnamese), the birthplace of Monk Tim Sakhorn, did not find any information about his whereabouts. “We have contacted them, but we don’t know where he (Monk Tim Sakhorn) is, he was arrested for 2-3 days already, and I could not find him yet … there is no news, where could he be?…” Chau Ban, the younger brother of Monk Tim Sakhorn, declared that so far, he had not received any information about the missing monk. Monk Tim Sakhorn’s relatives all over the place are looking for him both in Kampuchea Krom and in Cambodia, but no one saw him, and his disappearance caused concerns among his relatives that he may be jailed and tortured. Chau Ban said: “On the day of the incident, they transported him to Kampuchea Krom, he refused to go, there are people who saw this and they willing to be witnesses. We look for him everywhere, but we couldn’t find him. In my mind, I think that they may have killed him already, or he could be jailed and tortured because the way they arrest him is very brutal, that’s what let me to think about this.” An anonymous official from the Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs told RFA that the Vietnamese government did not provide a visa to Monk Tim Sakhorn. He said that Vietnam is not responsible for the problem faced by this former monk, and that Vietnam considers this issue as an internal affair of Cambodia. Monk Tim Sakhorn was ordained as a Buddhist monk 20 years ago. He no longer has any immediate relatives living in Kampuchea Krom (South Vietnam), but last week, the Cambodian authority defrocked him by force, and deported him to Kampuchea Krom by claiming that Monk Tim Sakhorn volunteered to go there. The Khmer Kampucha-Krom Federation (KKF) Worldwide accused that the deportation of the former monk to Vietnam is tantamount to sending him to jail and torturing him. Chan Soveth, an official of the Adhoc human rights organization, confirmed that civil society organizations are working with various foreign embassies in Vietnam to find out more about Monk Tim Sakhorn, but so far, no information has transpired yet.
