Ectopia
Bart Lauwaert innocent Bart Lauwaert died in jail in Cambodia
This Story about CWCC in Action, although several years old, can be seen as a Standard for all Inquisitions that followed after this case in 2004. APLE aparently simply copied the Techniques. Children where snatched from their home by CWCC without knowledge of their parents, kept and locked up and threatened not to be released until they would obey and "confess in an inquisition style" questioning that took days, that they where raped. They where denied food, water and kept in horrible conditions. After their release they retracted their "confessions" in a letter to Prime Minister of Cambodia, Mr. Hun Sen. That changed nothing for the accused Mr.Cleghorn who is still in Jail, serving his endless Term. Is he really guilty ? Only God knows !
A second and a third westerner jailed at the same time under similar circumstances was Clint Betteridge and Bart Lauwaert. Lauwaert died in jail in 2008bartlauwaert-death.jpg
while Betteridge was released from jail and cleared of all charges in Australia.Clint Betteridge
Ectopia's website has beeing hijacked and shows none of it's original content anymore. The links to the orig. Website no longer exist. tpf-cambodia managed to get hold of the orig. Screenshots.
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Ectopia -(CWCC's Invention)
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In order to comprehend that this was no isolated case you must read the following story (courtesy of inquisition21.com :Clint Betteridge setting-up-rudolf-knuchel---iq21.jpg
Clint Betteridge
Clint Betteridge is another CWCC Victim. He was arrested in Siem Reap at about the same time as Cleghorn and Bart Lauwaert (who has died in jail)
The following archive article is a courtesy of www.inquisition21.com
Clint Betterridge - stop this extradition! It's over.
Clint Betterridge has been freed!
In a dramatic day on Friday, June 09, 2006, Clint Betterridge was set free in Australia immediately after the Australian government heard the disgraceful news of how his appeal and that of Bart Lauwaert had gone in Cambodia.
This is how the appeal went.
Part 1 of both men’s appeal was heard on June 1 2006, and appeared to go very well for both Clint Betterridge and Bart Lauwaert, as all the girls who had formerly accused them stood firm, and stated that they had been coerced into giving false evidence by the CWCC. The most serious of three charges against Bart appeared to have been were struck out by the judge.
We expected that the judge would give a verdict based on the recantations made by the girls, and that Bart would be freed because of the remaining less serious charge and his time already served, and that, hopefully, the Australian government would then also free Clint who was accused by the same girls, and convicted in Cambodia after he managed to flee home to Australia, only to be locked up there pending his extradition back to Cambodia. To our horror on June 9, despite the girl’s new testimony made at great risk to them, the judge reaffirmed the savage 20 year sentences on both men.
What happened in the days between the first stage of the appeal hearing and the delivery of this verdict?
We will soon publish the significant events, such as the police and the CWCC invading the villages of the families of the girls and how they re-arrested and re-grilled some of them, and how the judge threatened them with imprisonment because they stood their ground against the CWCC.
The CWCC response to the verdict was swift. It accused the men's helpers of bribing the girls and implied that all had criminal intentions towards the girls. If five women from countries outside Cambodia were not involved in the campaign to free the men and to support the girls, other accusations, the kind they level at men, would also have been issued by the CWCC. They came close to branding all the campaigners supporting the men and the girls as child abusers, which would be amusing coming from them were it not so serious.
For the hour or so after the shocking verdict, the CWCC crowed, even, wickedly, writing to Bart's mother.
Then the pyrrhic nature of their victory transpired as the Australian government, apparently sickened by such obvious injustice, immediately released Clint Betterridge and quashed his extradition order.
Original story follows.
The Australian Minister for Justice ‘an arrogant disgrace’
David Ettridge writes to the Australian Minister for Justice, Senator Ellison.
April 25th 2005.
To Senator Ellison,
Canberra.
Re: Clinton Betterridge
Dear Senator Ellison,
I am writing this on ANZAC Day. A day in which Australians swell with pride over their hard earned freedom achieved through war. We remember with tears in our eyes those soldiers who fought for our freedom and to preserve our rights as citizens of this great nation.
As proud people we fill the churches, streets and memorials to demonstrate our respect for soldiers who fought for Australia and who gave or risked their lives so we could have freedom, democratic and peaceful lives.
Today, Australians who take for granted the system which they rely upon to protect them and their rights, don't realise that those rights are sometimes simply placed at the discretion of single people such as you.
You, Minister Downer and your office have been prolonging to an excruciating degree the making of a decision in the matter of Clinton Betterridge.
While this delay continues, Clinton Betterridge, who has been proven to be completely innocent of the manufactured charges against him, remains locked up in a cell in a high security prison in Queensland. This man has been a victim of a corrupt process of extortion in a foreign country and he is innocent. His freedom has been arrogantly ignored.
You and Minister Downer have rightly acted to assist Schapelle Corby, another innocent Australian at the mercy of a dubious legal system, but you do nothing for Clinton Betterridge.
Since he fled from Cambodia with the assistance of the DFA, in a bid to save his own life, he has been subjected to an even worse fate - the incompetence and ineptitude of your office.
You say Clint's innocence or guilt is not your concern and your obligation is to the Extradition Act, however, from my following of this matter, it is simply a decision for you as the Minister to ensure Justice for a wronged Australian citizen. The Cambodian regime has already had some degree of self examination of its corrupt cultures. I doubt they will be too fussed about what you decide regarding Clinton Betterridge, because the Cambodians will still want Australian aid money.
For some obscure reason, shrouded by lengthy bureaucratic administrative processes, you delay and stall from making a decision in such a clear cut case. Your staff continue to pass papers between themselves and to contribute to this delay. Why?
The injustice and corruption within Cambodia which led to Clinton being imprisoned in the first place has now been widely exposed. The so called victims are now shown to be virgins who have admitted they were promised payment for their perjury. Clinton's claims of torture and attempts by corrupt Cambodian police to extort money from him have been supported by other evidence. If Clinton was the son of a Liberal Party minister he would have been home with his family 2 years ago. Why do you ignore his desperate injustice?
Medical checks support Clinton's claims he was tortured while in a Cambodia's prison and publicity in the Asian media has exposed the widespread corruption within the Cambodian NGOs who are charged with caring for children. Clinton could never get justice from such a corrupt regime but neither can he get justice in Australia.
We all accept that Clinton's charges and incarceration are the result of widespread corruption from Cambodian officials, but what do you call it when he gets the same result in Australia? Incompetence? Do you just blame your staff and allow them to go on extended sick leave while the victim remains locked up in prison, or do you simply not regard Clinton's injustice as a priority? Clinton's continued incarceration is evidence that you appear to do nothing.
Have you ever experienced loss of freedom? What, as the Minister for Justice in Australia, and as a member of a Government that practices lying and deception to get votes, are you doing to fix this injustice?
Why do you masquerade as the Minister for Justice when it is quite clear you do not practice justice in such an obvious case? Where are Clinton's human rights?
Your lack of action in this matter is an arrogant disgrace.
Yours faithfully,
D. Ettridge.
David Ettridge writes to Foreign Affairs Minister, Alexander Downer MP
David Ettridge
May 1st 2005.
Alexander Downer M.P.
Parliament House,
Canberra, ACT,
Re : Clinton Betterridge.
Dear Minister Downer,
Australian citizen Clinton Betterridge is a victim of an extortion attempt by corrupt police in Cambodia. He refused to pay demands made of him for money and was ultimately framed and dishonestly charged with being a paedophile. I suspect you well know about this matter. It was your DFA office in Cambodia who, being well aware of the frame up and the disgraceful conditions this innocent Australian suffered in a Cambodian prison, assisted Clinton to flee Cambodia and return to Australia.
This may have become an embarrassment to you and your office, but who cares? Your embarrassment is nothing compared to the unconscionable, corrupt and inhumane treatment, which includes torture and almost 3 years of imprisonment which Clinton has endured.
Clinton’s innocence has been soundly vindicated by retractions made by trial witnesses, admissions of perjury, Government admissions of endemic corruption and medical certificates confirming the girls he was accused of raping are in fact still virgins.
His problem now rests with the slow, uncaring and inept Australian Government and specifically you and Senator Ellison. The two of you, and more so Senator Ellison, have presided over a disgraceful, incompetent scandal which will be exposed. You have both demonstrated a contemptuous prejudice against Clinton and have done nothing to assist him and his family to restore their public reputation and specifically, Clinton’s freedom.
Clinton has lost 3 years of his young life, his reputation and his livelihood while he remains incarcerated at Wolston prison in Queensland. It is time for some strong, principled and judicial behaviour from you and Senator Ellison.
You will both at some future point face the media and accountability for your abandonment of an innocent Australian. Your hypocritical statements on ABC’s Lateline 28.4.05 have not gone unnoticed and will no doubt resurface in a future expose of this whole sordid matter.
Yours faithfully,
D. Ettridge.
Wanted - people with courage in the Australian media
Several Australian journalists have tried to publish the story of the corruption behind the imprisonment of Clint Betterridge but their stories have been blocked by their editors. We need media people with courage to look at all the evidence we have obtained and to at least publish the fact of its existence. A number of independent people are prepared to stand over it and some have already signed affidavits.
Brian Rothery - Editor of www.inquisiton21.com site and an independent writer/journalist living in Ireland whose published books can be seen under an author search on Amazon. Brian Rothery has no connections with Clint Betterridge other than a conviction about his innocence.
David Ettridge makes new appeal
Writer David Ettridge issued this media release April 27th 2005.
Can you imagine the loss of your freedom?
No. You cannot imagine something like that. It is something you must experience.
The loss of freedom brought about by the corruption of a judicial system, the acceptance and encouragement of perjury during the trial process and opponents who own the very system which is judging you. How can you defend yourself against that? The injustice of such a persecution is unimaginable - only the victim knows.
To be caged like an animal in a zoo when you are completely innocent represents a finality expressed by the slamming of a steel door each night. Nelson Mandela knows, Ruben Hurricane Carter knows, I know.
Imagine again that while living in a corrupt Asian regime, where corruption is accepted as being a way to supplement very low incomes, and after rejecting an extortion attempt by corrupt police, you are punished by being arrested and charged with the crime which attracts the most vitriolic prejudice - paedophilia. Your chances of fairness and justice are abandoned by all. You are destined for torture, long term imprisonment and a ruined life. Your cries of innocence are ignored as do gooders bask in their catch.
Then one day, because of a breakdown of loyalty between your accusers brought about by their failure to pay promised inducements, the people who claimed you sexually abused them turn on their instigators, and now publicly claim they were promised money for their perjured evidence. Medical evidence shown to the court confirms that the girls who it is claimed were raped are in fact virgins and therefore could not have been victims of the alleged crime. Many other anomalies are exposed, all in confirmation of your claims of innocence.
Front page media in Asia exposes this web of deceit and corruption. Highly placed officials claim they will clean up endemic corruption - the type which unjustly put you in a barbaric prison where you were tortured. The witness retractions are an admission and confirmation of what you and your family have been screaming about for 3 years.
And yet, with this whole sorry state of affairs being well known to Australian Government Ministers - people who have the power to dispense justice to you which was denied by overseas processes - you remain locked up like an animal in a Queensland prison. While Ministers Downer and Ellison play politics and diplomacy with a corrupt aid assisted regime.
Like Mandela, Carter and me, Clinton Betterridge also knows what it is like to unjustly lose his freedom. His greatest problem is no longer being able to prove his innocence, but to overcome the prejudice that denies him justice. Clinton is not a paedophile. He is a victim. He is now well into his 2nd year of incarceration at Wolston prison in Qld as the Australian Government hold him pending extradition to Cambodia and a certain death at the hands of Cambodian prison guards. Do you care? What will you do for justice and freedom?
Email David Ettridge
Clint Betterridge's story follows the next section below.
Cambodia’s judicial system condemned for corruption
On 27 October 2004, the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) in Brussels charged Cambodia’s government with being ‘at best unable, and at worst unwilling’ to carry out a proper investigation into the murders of two prominent trade union leaders that have occurred this year. The charges came in a 14-page complaint it lodged with the Committee on Freedom of Association of the UN’s International Labour Organisation (ILO). The two murdered leaders were Chea Vichea, President of the Free Trade Union of the Workers of the Kingdom of Cambodia (FTUWKC) and Ros Sovannareth, President of the Trinonga Komara Garment Union, both killed in broad daylight on 22 January 2004 and 7 May 2004 respectively, and both in contract killings.
In a damning submission to the ILO, the ICFTU General Secretary added the following: “Cambodia’s judicial system has been widely condemned for its lack of independence, low levels of competence, and corruption. Independent observers find that instead of playing balance-of-power roles, the judiciary and parliament are firmly under government and party control. Whenever a judge does not comply with government policy, he or she is removed from office.
“The lack of investigation - - - could suggest that the person who ordered (the murders) is indeed a high-ranking government or police officer and that this person enjoys high-level protection and, hence, complete impunity. Indeed people close to the system seem to behave with impunity.”
The ICFTU submission went on to say: “The situation in Cambodia is critical. The above information illustrates extensively the violent climate of terror and impunity under which the Cambodian trade union movement operates.
“- - - The many reported cases of intimidation, threats, physical attacks and even murders cannot all be isolated and unrelated. Instead, they clearly show a pattern of intimidation and harassment against trade unionists.
”However, in view of the recent wave of physical assaults and murders, the ICFTU is under the strong impression that, despite former improvements, the level of trade union harassment has now intensified and that a concerted attack against trade unionists is carried out in a climate of total impunity.
”The ICFTU is particularly concerned by the several murders that have been preceded by threats, the many other instances of intimidation and harassment of trade unionists, unreliable police investigations into the murders, suspects changing versions, allegations of forced confessions, intimidation and disappearance of witnesses, dismissal of or lack of investigation into crucial evidence, judges being taken off cases and then demoted etc.
”- - - The government itself may not wish the truth to be known. At any note, the events described above clearly show that the government has failed to guarantee that trade unionists are able to exercise their activities in a climate free of intimidation and risk to their personal security and their lives. This suggests that international assistance to the investigation and the judicial process could be helpful.”
End quotes.
Here now we have another organization, independent from those championing the causes of Clint Betterridge and Bart Lauwaert, claiming that Cambodia’s judicial system is corrupt, that there is a violent climate of terror and impunity, involving intimidation, threats, physical attacks and even murders.
The full ICFTU submission to the ILO can be read at ICFTU.
Clint Betterridge
Brian Rothery
For latest see bottom.
If you have an accident with your motor bike in Australia and get news that you are about to receive $48,000 in compensation, be careful to whom you pass the information. Tell no one if you are working and living in Cambodia. Clint Betterridge, 34, was working as an English teacher in Cambodia where he was to marry a local Khmer girl, when he got news of his award.
The police turned up at the engagement party three weeks before the wedding, arrested him and took him to the courthouse. The judge held up a photograph of a 14-year-old girl and accused him of having had sex with her four months earlier. It was suggested that he may have been involved with other girls also. Clint denied the charge. The judge sent him to Siem Reap prison. Shortly afterwards, two court officials visited him and told him that if he paid them $20,000 he could walk free. He refused to pay and asked for a lawyer. He was refused.
The police had found about his compensation money when they arrested another Australian, Bart Lauwaert, on charges of having sex with underage girls. Clint had briefly let Bart Lauwaert rent the upstairs of his house but came home unexpectedly one day to find that he had young girls inside. It is possible that they were playing music only. When Bart was at the police station, he needed money to pay the police so phoned Clint on a police telephone to ask him for $10,000 to help him get off the charges. The police now had Clint's name and address and phone number, and knew that he had at least $10,000.
After being detained for about three months, Clint managed to speak to a lawyer who was visiting another inmate, and this one said he would represent him. He appears to have been the first of two lawyers. Despite Clint’s resistance, one lawyer inveigled Clint’s mother to come out to Cambodia to pay him more money. Clint claims that he was tortured while in prison. It was five months before he was officially charged, whereupon he received bail from a Phnom Penh court. His mother has the bail document, which states that there was no concrete evidence to lay charges against him, and that the girls’ statements did not reveal that he committed rape or debauchery against them, ‘debauchery’ being the term for pedophilia in Cambodia. The girls in question were the one in the photograph and four others. The document required that he be released from detention while on bail. His passport remained confiscated.
He went to the Australian embassy in Phnom Penh to seek help and told them his story. The staff said that he was entitled to a new passport. At first he declined, as he wanted to clear his name and marry his fiancée. Some knowledgeable locals advised him to take a new passport, get back to Australia and seek help from there to clear his name, unless he had enough money to pay extortion to the Siem Reap officials. They suggested that his trial could result in his serving 10 years in prison.
His mother phoned him with advice from an Australian lawyer that he should find a way back to Australia as he would not get a fair trial in Cambodia, that there was no extradition law between the two countries, and that the Australian government would not extradite him anyway. On that advice, Clint skipped the country and, using his new passport, got back to Australia on the 27 of January 2003. Two days later his trial was held in Cambodia and he was given 10 years in absentia.
The Australian media damned him. One headline said ‘Pedophile given new passport by the Australian government - we want answers’. Minister for Foreign Affairs, Alexander Downer, went on TV to say that he would find a loophole to send Clint Betterridge back to Cambodia to serve his 10-year sentence there. He then sent delegates to Cambodia. Downer had an extradition law passed between the two countries to have Clint Betterridge extradited. Clint was arrested in Australia on the 30 March 2003 at a Gold Coast caravan park.
Denied legal aid, he has been held for the past year in a high security prison in Queensland. Despite the refusal of legal aid, the Australian government agreed to pay the costs of two lawyers to act for the Cambodian government against him.
At his first hearing, he had to represent himself against the two lawyers. Queensland lawyer, Andrew Boe, heard of his case and visited him in prison. He took on his case ‘pro bono’, whereupon Clint had about seven court hearings for extradition. About two months ago, he was deemed extraditable. By this time, his mother had secured a certain amount of evidence from Cambodia suggesting his innocence.
Questioned at a press conference, this is what Minister Alexander Downer had to say: “After the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade's mistake (in giving him a new passport), we very much hope it's going to be possible to extradite Betterridge back to Cambodia. And if not, to be able to press charges against him here in Australia. These sort of people disgust Australians and they disgust me. And here is a man convicted of one of the most odious of crimes and we want him behind bars. He's been convicted and, so bearing in mind what's happened, the Government will do everything it possibly can to make sure either he is sent back to Cambodia, or else on the other hand that he is prosecuted here in Australia.”
Minister for Immigration, Ruddock, went on radio saying that Clint ‘would do the time’. Clint decided that his best chance to clear his name would be to go back to Cambodia and appeal, on the basis that if the Australian government released him they could at any time recharge him for the same crimes he was charged with in Cambodia, place him on the pedophile list, reporting to the police every 28 days, and that he would never get employment.
There was a sunset clause that said that he had to be either freed or extradited by 12 March 2004, but the government removed the clause so that he can be detained indefinitely. Minister for Justice, Ellison, is now deciding his fate.
The following serious points completely undermine the credibility of the Cambodian authorities that accused and arrested him.
Point 1. The most important document is the affidavit from Australian solicitor Lillian Nagan who handled Clint’s motor bike accident compensation award, which clearly reveals the attempts by persons within Cambodia with access to his phone to corruptly obtain the money from her. Access to his phone before his arrest was probably by tapping, while after his arrest access was a simple matter. I can make this affidavit available to any editor or journalist by attached Word file.
Point 2. I can produce a senior army official within Cambodia who will verify the main facts of corruption and extortion. To protect this man for now I am calling him ‘Sam’. He originally advised Clint to flee Cambodia believing he would get justice in Australia, and is now deeply disappointed at the Australian outcome. On my behalf, he has just given his story to a senior Australian official within Cambodia whose name I have. From Sam, I now have his written corroboration of the main facts as outlined in this statement. There is one other key person, Australian, inside Cambodia whose security for now must be protected, but on whose behalf I can speak.
Point 3. The NGO that brought charges of debauchery against Clint Betterridge is the CWCC, the Cambodian Women's Crisis Centre. The CWCC, which is supposed to be a non-governmental organization (NGO), employs 'penal police', which are a branch of the police force, and are real police. They arrest suspects, search for evidence, detain witnesses and even detain alleged victims identified by them. These police earn an average of $US20 a month from the state, matched by $US20 from the NGO, plus any extras.
Point 4. The than current Cambodian Minister of Women's Affairs, Mu Sochua is a friend and colleague of the Siem Reap director of CWCC. While the CWCC is founded in name by Oung Chanthol, it is strongly supported and promoted to donors and embassies of foreign countries by Mu Sochua. I have information which could be released under privilege about a connection between a person involved with the CWCC and a military person believed to have run the prostitution rackets in the former Thai border refugee camps.
Point 5. Further to the evidence of extortion, it is on record that an investigating judge in Siem Reap, Tan Sanarong, attempted to blackmail New Zealander, Graham Cleghorn, and that after Cleghorn publicly accused him of corruption, that judge was eventually transferred. Cleghorn was later charged with rape. It is clear that the authorities who dealt with both men practice blackmail or extortion.
Point 6. The girls who gave evidence against Cleghorn were coached and bullied and offered compensation equal to between 40 and 80 years' wages by the CWCC. Evidence was also changed during and after that case. In the case of Betterridge, it appears that the evidence of some girls and one former child prostitute was used against him. Clint hired two housemaids, four weeks before his arrest, one 17 one 18. When the police called to accuse him, Clint gave the names of these two housemaids to them, asking that they be interviewed, saying that they would say how he had treated them with respect. The police returned saying that the girls said that he had raped them. Clint denied this. When the girls were medically examined, they were found to be virgins. The police changed the charge to oral sex, and said that a third girl, a 14-year-old prostitute, also accused him. Later she revealed that the police promised her $200 to lie to the court.
Point 7. Clint was tortured. He was kept in an open bamboo cage with eight other men for the first few weeks. He was beaten by prison officers, placed under enormous stress, became quite ill and lost 20 kilos in weight. He was also tortured through sleep deprivation and other means. Despite spinal damage from his previous accident, he was
not provided with a mattress to sleep on and was forced to lie in great pain on a concrete floor or a flat split bamboo bed. He was placed under extreme pressure to sign a false
confession. He developed a life threatening condition but received little help. He was lucky to survive.
Point 8. He had no proper legal support. The first lawyer, provided to him by the judge, was in league with the judge's plan of extortion. His next lawyer, Borrima Dy, promptly
took all of his $8000 savings on the promise of a quick trial and an acquittal. At that stage, Clint had been in prison three months and was desperate. Without consulting
him and against his wishes, the lawyer informed his mother in Australia that Clint was very ill and that if she could come to Cambodia quickly he would get him bail. When
his mother arrived, Borrima Dy met with her and Clint on 14 December 2002. He told them that he knew Clint was innocent, but that he would still have to pay the judges and
the police to have him released, as this was the Cambodian way. He then asked Clint to sign an agreement to pay him 25% of what they could sue the media for after acquittal
plus any television and movie rights. He, Borrima Dy, would hold the evidence of his innocence as insurance that Clint would honor the agreement. Clint insisted that his mother return to Australia. He gave her a diary with names and phone numbers of all the people who had fabricated evidence, and the names of those who had attempted to
extort money or blackmail him. Security staff at the airport took the diary from her and it is believed to have been passed on to police. Requests for its return have been ignored. The last time Clint saw Borrima Dy was on the 10 January 2003, when he came to the prison with bail release forms. He made Clint agree to pay him $3500 before the bail trial date on 23/1/03. He informed Clint the other $4000 was gone in obtaining the bail.
Point 9. Clint was granted bail on appeal for the following reasons: 'There is no concrete evidence to lay charges against the accused. The witness statement did not reveal
that the accused committed rape or debauchery against them. The act of the accused is considered an indecent assault, which is a misdemeanor only. There is not enough
evidence to lay charges against the accused that he used drugs.'
Point 10. The girls were also recruited/solicited by the CWCC, which, in the case of Cleghorn, went to extreme lengths amounting to kidnap and bullying in their efforts to
get girls to accuse him. I have the evidence of a woman who interviewed the girls in the Cleghorn case and it is an indictment of the CWCC.
Point 11. A founding member of the Siem Reap branch of the CWCC is the sister of Tan Sanarong, the judge that tried to blackmail Cleghorn. She is Tan Senara.
Point 12. The CWCC and other Cambodian NGOs need child abuse arrests to maintain foreign funding. The ones with the most arrests get the most publicity and the most funding.
Point 13. The CWCC advises victims/accusers to seek compensation, and pays money to the police. But it goes even further, promising victims/accusers thousands of dollars
in compensation and says that they are guaranteed a conviction. It admits to paying the police, over and above the monthly wage, but claims that it is just for expenses. This buys police cooperation and reduces their motivation to look for evidence.
Point 14. In some three years living in small communities in Cambodia and in Vietnam, Betterridge did not once arouse anyone's suspicion of being a pedophile, and his former
co-workers and staff have only the highest regard for him and his conduct towards them.
Point 15. A third foreigner, a property owner and friend of Cleghorn, Swiss hotelier Rudolph Knuchel, beat similar pedophilia charges brought against him by the CWCC on appeal last year and is now suing the organisation for defamation in a Swiss court.
That outcome could have significant implications both for the Betterridge and Cleghorn cases. Similar high profile cases in both the UK and Canada, instigated by writers who came to the assistance of the accused, resulted in huge malicious defamation awards for the falsely accused. No such outcome could be expected in Cambodia but these cases
should be a warning signal of the potential for malicious or opportunistic prosecutions.
Point 16. Clint was convicted by sensational Australian press.
All of the above points can be boiled down to or combined to form one major point in defense of Clint Betterridge. The evidence of the CWCC and police is tainted and contaminated by its bias towards obtaining convictions for profit. This fact together with the obvious corruption of the Cambodian authorities makes any conviction, such as that of Betterridge, unsafe and likely to be a miscarriage of justice. In this specific case we even have independent sworn evidence of attempted extortion from a respected Australian woman solicitor. For his own country to send him back to Cambodia would be a tragedy.
As an outsider I am hesitant to express my shock at the way this man has been treated in his own country, to which he fled looking for sanctuary, but as an Irishman I hope that I can appeal to many Australians as my friends and cousins to come to the assistance of Clint Betterridge and read the evidence that exposes the disgraceful people that have accused him in Cambodia.
The affidavit by Lillian Nagan
IN THE MAGISTRATES COURT
OF QUEENSLAND
AT BRISBANE
Number: MAG-00055066 / 03(5)
IN THE MATTER of CLINTON REX BETTERRIDGE
EXTRADITION PROCEEDINGS
AFFIDAVIT OF LILLIAN PATRICIA NAGAN
I, Lillian Patricia Nagan, of 15 Ruby Close Port Douglas in the State of Queensland, solicitor, make oath and say as follows:
1. I am a solicitor and have been practicing as a sole practitioner in Port Douglas for approximately eighteen years.
2. I acted for Mr Clinton Betterridge from in or about early July 1999 – when I was engaged by him in respect of making a claim for compensation for injuries sustained by him in a motor-vehicle accident, which occurred on or about 8 June 1999 – until the matter finalised in or about July/August 2002. The contents of this affidavit have been compiled from my own memory and from a perusal of the notations on the file I maintained in respect of this retainer.
3. During the period March 2002 until August 2002, and whilst Mr Betterridge was in Cambodia, Mr Betterridge and I communicated frequently by telephone, email and facsimile about the settlement of his claim. Over the course of these communications, particularly around the time of settlement (June/July 2002) Mr Betterridge told me and I believe, a number of things, as follows:
3.1. he repeatedly urged the prompt resolution of his claim;
3.2. he had decided to utilise part of the settlement monies to purchase a travel agency business to operate in Siem Reap Cambodia;
3.3. after the agreement to settle, he repeatedly sought the settlement monies;
3.4. he indicated hat he required the money at the earliest opportunity due to the fact that he did not wish to lose face with the person with whom he was dealing regarding the acquisition of the business;
3.5. he indicated increasing concern that he would not have the settlement monies in time to meet contractual obligations he had assumed in order to purchase the business; and
3.6. he stated that the vendor was becoming irritated by delays with the payment.
4. Exhibit “LPN-1” to this affidavit is a copy of one of the first email communications that I received from Mr Betterridge in relation to the purchase of this business, dated 26 March 2002.
5. I also recall that over this period, Mr Betterridge told me and I believe, about some aspects of his personal life, as follows:
5.1. that he had met a Cambodian woman and was engaged to be married. He had met her parents and a wedding date had been set;
5.2. that he had been living with a person named “Bart” who was a friend of his cousin’s but who he didn’t know prior to living with him;
5.3. that he had had to evict Bart from his residence due to something to do with Bart and young girls.
6. Mr Betterridge’s claim for compensation was settled by agreement on or about 27 June 2002, that he be paid $45,000.00 compensation and his legal fees be met by the Insurer on a party-party basis.
7. In or about early July 2002:
7.1. I forwarded by post to Mr Betterridge in Cambodia, the Discharge that had been received from the Insurance Company. I received it returned by post and signed by him, which document I then on-forwarded to the Solicitors for the Insurer;
7.2. I had a telephone conversation with Mr Betterridge in which he informed me and I believe that he would like the settlement funds to be transferred to the Canadian Bank Ltd in Cambodia.
8. On or about 10 July 2002, I received an email from Mr Betterridge providing instructions for payment of the settlement monies, including his bank details and instructions for the transfer. Exhibit “LPN-2” to this affidavit is a copy of this facsimile.
9. On or about 30 July 2002:
9.1. I emailed Mr Betterridge advising of information I had received as to how to remit the funds. Exhibit “LPN-3” to this affidavit is a copy of this email;
9.2. I received a reply email from him, requesting that I telephone him;
9.3. I telephoned Mr Betterridge. He asked about the progress of the money and I informed him that the money had not arrived from the Insurance Company and as soon as it was received, I would on-forward it to him.
10. On or about 31 July 2002:
10.1. I received an email from Mr Betterridge requesting that I forward $20,000.00 to him. Exhibit “LPN-4” to this affidavit is a copy of this email.
10.2. I telephoned Mr Betterridge on his mobile telephone number 0011 855 12710637. The phone was answered by a female. To the best of my recollection, the conversation went as follows:
10.2.1. I asked to speak to Clint Betteridge and she asked me my name.
10.2.2. I told her that I was a friend of Clint’s and that I needed to speak to him.
10.2.3. She requested that I provide my details to her. I declined.
10.2.4. She then spoke to a male or male persons in a foreign tongue, presumably Khmer, and then asked me “why did you want to speak to Mr Clint?” to which I replied, “it’s really none of your business, I just want to speak to him.”
10.2.5. She then requested that I provide her with the password to “Mr Clint’s” bank account. I refused.
10.2.6. I then hung up the phone.
10.3. Some five minutes later my office phone began ringing however, I did not bother to answer it.
10.4. Mr Betterridge then called me. I informed him of the earlier call. He informed me and I believe that that could not be correct as the mobile phone was in his possession the whole time. I expressed my concern that his phone was being taped and we made arrangements to speak on another line.
10.5. We spoke again and I believe that it was during this conversation that Mr Betterridge told me and I believe, that he had received a telephone call from Bart, who was at a police station, asking to pay him some money to help him out with a police matter.
11. On or about 1 August 2002:
11.1. Mr Betterridge’s settlement monies were received into my firm’s trust account;
11.2. My office received information from Travelex as to the requirements for transmission of the money. Exhibit “LPN-5” to this affidavit is a copy of the facsimile;
11.3. I forwarded an email to Mr Betterridge, advising of the full details regarding the remittance of the money. Exhibit “LPN-6” to this affidavit is a copy of this email.
12. On or about 2 August 2002:
12.1. I withdrew from my Trust Account and deposited into the Travelex account, part of the settlement monies totalling $14,326.92AUS, for on-forwarding to Mr Betterridge in Cambodia. Exhibit “LPN-7” to this affidavit comprises of a copy of my letter confirming same to Travelex and the receipt for the deposit;
12.2. I received an email from Mr Betterridge, advising me that he would keep an eye out for the money as the Bank Manager at the Canadian Bank was one of his students. Exhibit “LPN-8” to this affidavit is a copy of that email;
12.3. I received another email from Mr Betterridge advising that the funds had not been deposited to his nominated Bank Account. He asked me to telephone the Bank in Australia.
12.4. I telephoned the National Australia Bank, Port Douglas branch and was advised and I believe that the funds had definitely been remitted.
12.5. I then tried to ring Mr Betterridge on his mobile telephone a number of times. Each time I telephoned I spoke to a girl who answered. When I asked to speak to Mr Betterridge, she was very evasive and would not tell me his whereabouts.
12.6. I forwarded an email to Mr Betterridge asking him to call me on my home number after 7.00pm, as I wished to discuss the remittance with him. Exhibit “LPN-9” to this affidavit comprises a copy of this email as well as a copy of the earlier email from Mr Betterridge.
12.7. I received an email from Mr Betterridge informing me that his cell phone was now working and that he intended to call me on Monday morning, the 5th August 2002 from a different phone line, just in case his phone was being taped. Exhibit “LPN-10” to this affidavit is a copy of this email.
12.8. I then attempted to telephone Mr Betteridge on his mobile again, however I received the not active signal.
13. On or about 5 August 2002:
13.1. I forwarded an email to Mr Betterridge requesting that he call me. Exhibit “LPN-11” to this affidavit is a copy of that email.
13.2. I telephoned the place of the last known facsimile number I had for Mr Betterridge. I spoke to a gentleman and advised him that I wished to send a fax to Mr Betterridge and asked that it be delivered to him at his Siem Reap address. I also offered to pay him the sum of $US20.00 for his assistance. He responded, and I believe, words to the effect that he would deliver my communication to Mr Betterridge.
13.3. At 4.10pm, I forwarded the facsimile to Mr Betterridge on that number. Exhibit “LPN-12” to this affidavit is a copy of that facsimile.
13.4. I received no response to my communications.
13.5. I telephoned the Canadian Bank in Siem Reap and spoke to a person by the name of Earkhymeng to attempt to ascertain the whereabouts of Clint. I was aware that Earkhymeng had been a student of Mr Betterridge for a number of months. Mr Betterridge had previously informed me, and I believe, that Earkhymeng was his friend. Earkhymeng told me and I believe that he would speak to Mr Betterridge after Mr Betterridge finished teaching English at the English school that afternoon. I also requested Earkhymeng to ascertain the details of the vendor of the Tour Business, as I intended to contact the vendor, as I could not get in contact with Mr Betterridge.
13.6. I confirmed this telephone call by email. Exhibit “LPN-13” to this affidavit is a copy of that email.
13.7. In the evening, I received a telephone call. It was a foreign speaking woman who asked me whether or not the monies had been paid to “Mr Clint’s” bank account. I enquired as to who it was that was calling and was informed by the woman and I believe, that she was a good friend of Clint’s. I told her that I had no intentions of discussing Mr Betterridge’s financial affairs with her and I requested that she arrange for me to speak to Mr Betterridge as a matter of urgency.
14. On or about 6 August 2002, I telephoned Earkhymeng at the Canadian Bank again. Earkhymeng told me and I believe that Mr Betterridge was sick in bed. I then told Earkhymeng that I intended to send a written communication to Mr Betterridge and I asked him to deliver it to Mr Betterridge. He agreed to do this for me. Exhibit “LPN-14” to this affidavit is a copy of the email I sent after this conversation.
15. On or about 7 August 2002:
15.1. I forwarded a further email to Earkhymeng, informing him that I intended to contact the Australian Embassy in Cambodia if I did not hear from Mr Betterrridge. Exhibit “LPN-15” is a copy of this email.
15.2. I then read an article in the Cairns Post that Mr Betterridge and a Bart Lauwaert had been arrested by the Cambodian police on charges of having sex with underage girls.
15.3. I contacted Travelex and arranged for the money to be remitted back to Australia from the Canadian Bank Account.
16. On or about 8 August 2002, I received from Travelex Ltd a refund of monies that had been paid to the Canadian Bank Account less the loss in the Foreign Exchange Rates. Exhibit “LPN-16” to this affidavit is a copy of the confirmation of this transmission.
17. On or about 16 August 2002, I received an email from a person by the name of Theara, informing me that this person was a friend of Mr Betterridge’s and also enquiring as to the whereabouts of the money that was being remitted from Australia to his bank account. Exhibit “LPN-17” to this affidavit is a copy of this email.
18. On or about 27 August 2002, I received a facsimile from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade requesting on Mr Betterridge’s behalf the transfer of money to his account. Exhibit “LPN-18” is a copy of the facsimile received.
19. On or about 28 August 2002, I did forward to Mr Betteridge’s Canadian Bank Account, the sum of $15,000.00AUS.
All the facts and circumstances above deposed to are within my own knowledge and belief save such as are deposed to from information only and my means of knowledge and sources of information appear on the face of this my affidavit.
Petition from Richard Christie
Christchurch
New Zealand
Addressed to the official handling the Clint Betterridge case in the office of the Australian Minister of Justice
Dear Mr Hollands,
#I am writing to you in regard to the Clint Betterridge case as I understand you deal with this case for the Australian Minister of Justice.
I am a researcher, resident in New Zealand, and have a modest publication record of newspaper articles written in collaboration with writer and psychologist Jonathon Harper. As a writing partnership we have contributed, we hope not insignificantly, to the current debate in this country over the 1993 convictions of Peter Ellis for child sexual abuse, (currently under consideration by a parliamentary select committee). See also 80.000 word and Critique of Sir Thomas Eichelbaum’s Ministerial Inquiry.
Other cases of possible miscarriages of justice have come to our attention as a result of our work on the Ellis case. Several aspects of the Betterridge case give us cause for concern.
These include:
1) The manner in which allegations against Betterridge were solicited from complainants
2) The offer of significant financial inducements as compensation to the complainants
3) Suggestions of widespread corruption within both the local arresting police force and members of the Cambodian judiciary
4) The validity of the in absentia conviction.
5) Changes made to Australian law to specifically allow for Betterridge's extradition.
The above are by no means an exhaustive list of our concerns.
I petition that the Australian Government cease plans to extradite C Betterridge to Cambodia and instead to rigorously re-examine all circumstances surrounding this case. I ask that you convey this request to the minister.
We shall be following future developments with interest.
Yours faithfully,
Richard Christie.
Latest
All the other cases of men arrested for ‘debaucheries’ in Cambodia need to be studied for similarities with the Clint Betterridge case. The closest to it, involving the CWCC around the same time and in the same area, was that of New Zealander Graham Cleghorn, now in prison in Cambodia, and we have extremely disturbing information about the methods used to obtain his conviction. They are listed in his story under ‘Country by country’. More information about his case is emerging.
The latest however is that of Australian David Ford whose case collapsed as the absurd evidence against him evaporated. The similarities in both the Cleghorn and Ford cases with that of Betterridge’s are striking. How far must we go to accept the discrediting of Cambodian justice and in particular the corruption of the police and the CWCC?
Other general developments in the Betterridge case
Information continues to seep out from Cambodia and a little from Australia. Two significant questions may be – 1. How much did the Australian government know all along about the evidence now sent to them (above)? 2. What part did the Australian Embassy in Cambodia play, or, perhaps more aptly, not play, in the affair? In the first instance, one hopes that the government may not have found itself committed to maintaining its stance against Betterridge because of its early intemperate public statements about him, its assistance to the Cambodian authorities to convict and return him, and its fear of the rabid media anti-pedophilia propaganda it had helped whip up in Australia. In the high profile cases our writers have been involved in elsewhere the most difficult task was to get an establishment committed to the acceptance of guilt to accept new evidence of innocence, no matter how strong.
Big questions need to be answered by the Australian Embassy in Cambodia. Here are a few. How when its initial reaction to Betterridge’s predicament was to give him a new passport to let him flee the country, did this change after its bosses back home publicly damned Betterridge, and bowed to media frenzy that they had ‘let a pedophile escape’?
How come that other writers and I now uncover information about extortion and corruption that must have been known to the Australian Embassy in Phnom Penh?
The Oz begins to see the light
The Australian which played such a key role in the initial demonization of Clint Betterridge has begun to show some signs of seeing another side of the Cambodian coin.
In a May Day story titled An end to innocence their woman correspondent in Phnom Penh, Kimina Lyall, writes first about the David Ford fiasco, but then moves on to an open admission of the extent of the corruption in the arrest and prosecution of foreigners for sex crimes.
Here she is saying what we have been trying to tell the Australian authorities: “In Cambodia, the strength of the evidence has not always been the key factor in determining the outcome of child-sex allegations.” She goes on to report the practice of extorting large sums from accused foreigners who have been accused, how promises were broken after payment, how translators during interrogations whisper the sum that will solve the problem, and how the sum can rise later.
Her most important contribution is that she admits that the NGOs are involved, calling it ‘a new level of the legal, ethical, and political ambiguity surrounding the investigation of child sex offences in Cambodia’. While she is still soft on the NGOs, especially those involving women, she does let fly at the protection-of-young males orientated Action Pour Les Enfants, saying that they ‘broke some of the classic rules police officers across the world use to investigate serious crimes’. She also quotes released David Ford saying, 'If an NGO is prepared to give them another $2 to dob in a pedophile, then they'll dob in a pedophile. The NGO might take them for a drive up the riverbank street and say, 'Point out all the pedophiles' and if it's $2 a time, they'll point out anybody.'
She is very wrong when she quickly adds: “No one as yet accuses any particular NGO of going quite that far.” We have accused them, and it’s on record here and in the hands of the Australian authorities, and waiting for a real court of justice to hear it, and well does The Australian know this.
She reveals that she has much information concerning attempts to bribe individual foreigners, information we have been using in the defense of Clint Betterridge, and that the Australian Federal Police were also involved in the Ford investigation in Cambodia, at one stage seeking out 15 ‘potential victims’, but that by the time the case came to court only the two unfortunates who recanted were left. As with recantations elsewhere in the world, the main prosecutors tried to explain away the recantation, in this case Action Pour Les Enfants, hinting that the two were bought off by strangers. Kimina Lyall quotes another recanter in the case thus, 'I went to court before against a Frenchman, but I didn't get any money.' Most importantly, she admits that children may be promised thousands of dollars in compensation from the perpetrator if a conviction is secured.
The real meat for us in The Australian story is that Mu Sochua, the Women's Affairs Minister, ‘is concerned that poor collation of evidence by NGOs may begin to bring the high-profile successes undone’. She quotes her thus: “I am as much concerned about innocent people being brought to court as the protection of our children and the prosecution of people who have really committed a crime in our country. We have been successful so far, but one or two more cases where the evidence does not stand in court would jeopardize that work. I don't want to put the NGOs in that position where questions are raised.'
This tells us much. Finally, she, who is the real patron of the CWCC that used criminal methods to convict both Clint Betterridge and New Zealander Graham Cleghorn, and not just patron, but who uses it as a powerful political platform for internal political reasons, finally admits that questions are indeed being raised.
As if we needed more from Kimina Lyall, she goes on to quote one head of an NGO saying that the police are the main beneficiaries of the sex industry, and ‘act only when they are shamed into doing so by evidence presented by others’.
Such as the NGOs with their own agendas.
Please help!
Please copy and sign and send the petition on the front page. We also need more Australian media people. See Contact.
Courageous lawyer takes on case
MICHAEL J. BYRNE Q.C. LLB
LEVEL TWENTY-NINE
BARRISTER-AT-LAW
MLC CENTRE
ABN 36 327 761 800
239 GEORGE STREET
BRISBANE, QLD. 4000
TELEPHONE (07) 3210 1787
AUSTRALIA
FACSIMILE (07) 3229 7546
MOBILE 0438 988 348
19 May 2004
Mr. Anthony Coles
Senior Legal Officer
Extradition Unit, International Crime Branch
Attorney-General=s Department
Robert Jarran Offices
National Circuit
BARTON ACT 2600
Dear Mr. Coles
RE: CLINTON REX BETTERRIDGE; EXTRADITION ACT 1988, SECTION 22
I refer to your letter of 28 April, 2004 to Mr. Andrew Boe, Solicitor, concerning representations on behalf of Mr. Betterridge.
I now hold instructions to make such representations to assist the Minister for Justice & Customs, Senator the Hon. Chris Ellison in his determination under Section 22 of the Extradition Act 1988.
Looking, then, to Section 22, there is no issue as to Mr. Betterridge being, within sub-section (1), an eligible person, nor with there being a qualifying extradition offence.
The critical matters for the Minister are under sub-section (3), in particular whether Mr. Betterridge can or should be surrendered to Cambodia.
LEGAL TEST
It is well settled and accepted throughout the common law world that strict and anxious consideration is required in extradition proceedings due to considerations of liberty of the citizen and the potentially drastic consequences. (1)
In the case of Mr. Betterridge, specific attention must be directed to sub-section (3) (b) of Section 22 which provides:-
(a) the eligible person is only to be surrendered in relation to a qualifying extradition if:
(b) the Attorney-General is satisfied that, on surrender to the extradition country, the person will not be subjected to torture.
That is to say, before Mr. Betterridge can be legally surrendered the Minister must be positively satisfied that he will not be subjected to torture.
Torture is not defined in the Act, however the current edition of the Shorter Oxford Dictionary speaks of:
(the infliction of) severe physical or mental suffering; anguish, agony, torment.
In order for consideration to be properly given to this crucial issue, regard should be had to the sworn affidavits of:-
(a) Clinton Rex Betterridge;
(b) Bronwyn Ann Sloan; and
(c) Renee Cobb.
Particularly relevant are paragraphs [18] and [39] of the affidavit of Mr. Betterridge, paragraphs [12] to [15] of the Affidavit of Ms. Sloan and the Exhibits to the Affidavit of Ms.Cobb, notably [2.1.3] and [2.1.6].
As may be seen, Mr. Betterridge swears to him having been subjected to torture whilst in custody, on remand, in Cambodia. This included:-
- being struck in the mouth by a rifle, resulting in an exposed tooth nerve which was not treated;
- deprivation from food resulting in a 34 kg weight loss;
- use of electric shocks;
- beatings; and
- sleep deprivation through the use of a large bell each hour of the day.
His account is corroborated by the eye-witness account and consistent complaints to Ms. Sloan.
In addition, investigations by august bodies such as Amnesty International and the United Nations Commission have exposed many examples of torture inflicted within prisons in that country.
It is not, in my submission, to overstate the position that if similar treatment were to be meted out to Mr. Betterridge as was such to cause him to lose 34kg in 5 months,he would be dead well within the 10 years of the sentence imposed on him in absentia.
CONCLUSION
There is positive, sworn material before the Minister not only of the torture inflicted, but first-hand and institutional support of that account.
On my instructions, there is no material to the contrary.
In such circumstances it is submitted that the Minister not only could not be satisfied as to the condition precedent in s.22(3)(b), but that he would be satisfied that it was likely that Mr. Betterridge would be subjected to torture.
It follows that the legal basis for the surrender of Mr. Betterridge is not made out.
DISCRETION
In addition to the legal requirements, there exists an unfettered discretion in the Minister as to whether a person should be surrendered. (1)
Thus, whereas under s.19 proceedings before a magistrate the issue of the guilt or otherwise of the person is irrelevant, such an issue is a live one for the Minister’s consideration.
Accordingly, it is respectfully submitted that the Minister would give considerable weight to the Magistrate’s finding that -
Having regard to all of the material before me, it is fair to say that corruption and extortion are evident in the Cambodian justice system.(1) and, hence, his Worship’s remark that:
I urge the Attorney-General to give most anxious consideration to all aspects before determining surrender under Section 22 of the Act.
The starting point for these considerations is that the trial of Mr. Betterridge took place in absentia and therefore without any contradictor to even test or challenge the evidence.
More importantly, though, is the sworn material which strongly indicates that Mr. Betterridge is innocent and has been set up for the offences.
In this regard, reference is made to the affidavits of:-
(a) Lillian Patricia Nagan;
(b) Ken Sosavoeum; and
(c) Bronwyn Ann Sloan. (1)
Ms. Nagan, who is a solicitor with lengthy experience, clearly deposes to repeated attempts by persons in Cambodia to corruptly obtain funds which were being sent by her to Mr. Betterridge. Importantly, these attempts took place both before and after the arrest of Mr. Betterridge on the current charges.
This sworn material graphically and strikingly supports the account of Mr. Betterridge that right from the time of his arrest, money was demanded in exchange for the withdrawal of the charges.(1)
Then, one comes to the blunt statement by the Chief of Training Bureau of the Cambodian Intelligence and Research Department of the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces, that the charges are the false product of corrupt practices.
This, startling, account is further confirmed in paragraph [7] of Ms. Sloan’s sworn affidavit that she holds recorded accounts demonstrating the falsity of the allegations. (1)
Indeed, the discretion resided in the Minister would necessarily include considerations such as the surrender being unjust, oppressive or incompatible with humanitarian considerations.
To surrender Mr. Betterridge in light of the presently available and sworn material would, clearly, be both unjust and oppressive, as well as inhumane.
SUMMARY
The Australian Government, through the Minister, has a primary responsibility to protect its citizens from illegal and unjust treatment.
This is said even whilst acknowledging other responsibilities to foreign nation states.
In the present case, the material demonstrates that Mr. Betterridge has been falsely accused, wrongly imprisoned and tortured for five months, convicted in absentia and has been in custody, in Queensland, for approximately 14 months because of the application to have him returned to prison in Cambodia.
It would, it is respectfully submitted, be both legally wrong and morally improper to surrender Mr. Betterridge in the existing circumstances.
With Compliments,
MICHAEL J. BYRNE Q.C.
Footnotes
1. Papazoglou -v- Republic of Philippines (1997) 92 A Crim R 418 at 449 (Full Federal
Court); R (Guisto) -v- Governor of Brixton Prison [2004] 1 AC 101 at [41] (House of
Lords).
2. The original affidavits have been filed in the s.19 proceedings before Magistrate
Gordon in Brisbane. A copy of the affidavits is attached hereto for convenience.
3. Section 22(31(f))
4. Decision of Gordon M at p.11 l45
5. Decision of Gordon M at p.13 l 29
6. Again, the originals are part of the court record and copies are annexed hereto.
7. See paragraphs [17] and [18] of the Affidavit of Mr. Betterridge.
8. This includes both the offer of money for complaints and the making of physically
impossible complaints of rape by persons found to be virgins
9. See, for example, the treaty scheduled to the Extradition (Republic of Philippines)
Regulations
10. As reflected in the terms of Section 22(3)(b) and (f) of the Act
11. For an international perspective, see Inquisition 21st Century - by Brian Rothery; http://www.inquisition21.... 41
Sign and send this petition
It is all the more important now that you sign the petition below or tell your local Australian paper about this story.
Clint Betterridge was close to allowing himself to surrender to the Australian authorities from his prison cell and be extradited back to Cambodia. Read the damning evidence that we have obtained on how the Cambodians secured his conviction for child rape. Read about the extortion attempts that we now have recorded on a sworn affidavit from an impeccable independent source. Australia was about to allow a great miscarriage of justice. Now at last we have a good lawyer.
We need Australians to read our evidence and to ask the media to look again at this case.
If you are happy that the case needs reexamining, please copy, sign and send this petition. Rewrite it in your own words if you wish.
Petition
To the Minister for Justice and Customs, Senator Chris Ellison
mojc@ag.gov.au (Senator Chris Ellison)
Copy Mr. Ritchie Hollands, Senior Legal Officer, Extradition Unit, International Crime Branch, Attorney- General's Department
ritchie.hollands@ag.gov.au (Mr. Ritchie Hollands)
Subject: Petition for Betterridge
Dear Minister,
In the making of your determination under the Extradition Act 1988 whether to surrender Mr. Clint Betterridge to Cambodia, could I bring to your attention this petition and my reasons for it?
Several aspects of the Betterridge case give me cause for concern.
These include:
1. The manner in which allegations against Betterridge were solicited from complainants
2. The offer of significant financial inducements as compensation to the complainants
3. Suggestions of widespread corruption within both the local arresting police force and members of the Cambodian judiciary
4. The validity of the in absentia conviction
5. Changes made to Australian law to specifically allow for Betterridge's extradition
6. Adverse and possibly biased news media coverage of the case within
Australia
7. Other information that may now come to light.
I petition you and the Australian Government to cease plans to extradite Clint Betterridge to Cambodia and instead to rigorously re-examine all circumstances surrounding this case.
Yours faithfully,
(Your name here)
A mother appeals to the Cambodian PM
Dear Prime Minister Samdech Hun Sen,
I am the mother of Clint Betterridge, who is in prison in my country, Australia, charged with sex crimes in Cambodia. He has served almost two years altogether in both Cambodia and Australia.
This is an appeal to you to grant him a pardon based on the evidence that has been uncovered by a team of international writers and other experts and friends. These include journalists in Cambodia, human rights experts in Australia and New Zealand, a woman solicitor in Australia, and a book author/journalist in Ireland who has been recording the events at Inquisition 21st century.
The best way I can sum up Clint’s situation is to refer you to the latest document summarizing the case for freeing him which was prepared for no fee by the Australian lawyer Michael Byrne QC and is on the above web site.
If I may summarize this, it contains sworn affidavits from respectable people including a woman journalist and a woman solicitor with evidence of torture and extortion and extortion attempts. May I respectfully tell you that we continue to have sources of information within your country who have your best interests in mind and to say to you that some of Clint’s friends have other information they would be happy to pass to you should it be okay with you and some secure channel of communication to you be made available?
I can add one other new fact to the story as told above. Clint was once again beaten up in prison in the past month, this time in the Queensland detention center by an Asian inmate, so his punishment continues.
It is not pleasant for me or for the people helping me to have to include in our petition to you evidence of corruption in your country, but we have no other way. May I hasten to add that our international friends believe that my own country Australia has behaved very badly towards my son?
Please grant him a pardon and show the world that you are what you have been described to us all as – a man who believes in truth and justice. Only you, Prime Minister, can now grant justice to my son.
Yours respectfully,
Lola Betterridge
Mother of Clint Betterridge
Editor - Can someone translate the above appeal into Khmer for Lola? See Contact in menu
Plea to young Australians
Help us get this petition onto chat and discussion groups.
She now writes to the PM of Australia
August 3 2004
TO THE HON.PRIME MINISTER OF AUSTRALIA, JOHN HOWARD
JUSTICE FOR CLINT BETTERRIDGE
My name is Lola Betterridge. I am the mother of Clint Betterridge who is being held in high security at Wolston Prison, Queensland .I have written two letters to you asking for you to intervene in the miscarriage of justice in the Betterridge case. One I never received a reply, the other was forwarded to Mr Chris Ellison. I received a letter from the Minister for Justice Chris Ellison, in which he stated 'your letter requests that I direct the release of Clint Betterridge from custody under section 17 of the Act. It is true that section 17 permits me, as the responsible Minister, to direct the release of a person in certain circumstances and discontinue the extradition proceedings. While I appreciate the anguish your family is currently experiencing, I am not of the opinion that the circumstances of this case warrants the making of this direction.'
Mr Howard I would like an answer as to why the Australian Government failed to investigate the corruption and extortion into the Betterridge case before they sent delegates to Cambodia to make an Extradition Treaty for 12 months especially for Clint Betterridge.
Clint Betterridge was given a new passport by the Australian Embassy in Phnom Penh . Minister Downer said on TV that he should have been notified before Betterridge was given a passport. I would like to inform you, it was said in the Gold Coast court by a lawyer that Canberra was informed before the Phnom Penh Embassy gave Betterridge a passport.
Mr Downer said on TV he would find a loophole to send Betterridge back to Cambodia to serve his 10 years. ( that he received in absentia ).I will inform you that Clint Betterridge was unaware of what charges were brought against him at his trial in absentia until 4 months after his trial. Where is the justice in a trial by absentia?
The Minister for Justice Chris Ellison said through the media - I quote 'Senator Ellison said he would not give further details on the legal options so as not to warn Betterridge or his lawyer'. After reading Mr Ellison's words, I knew then there would be no justice in the Betterridge's case at any cost. The Australian Government had turned their back on an innocent Australian citizen.
Clint Betterridge was refused Legal Aid. Clint Betterridge was refused a special Government Grant. Clint Betterridge was left to defend himself with no knowledge of law in a complex case against two (2) prosecutors who were representing Cambodia. Who were paid by the Australian Government. Mr Howard, how could you call this justice?
The magistrate at Betterridge's extradition hearing on the 24-12-03 ruled 'Clint was to be released from Wolston Prison at midnight on the 12-3-04 if he had not been extradited before that date. Two (2) months after the magistrate's ruling and 16 days before he was to be released 12-3-04 the Sunset clause was removed from the extradition treaty which now means Clint Betterridge can be held in Prison indefinitely. How can the Government overrule a court decision?
Clint Betterridge entered Australia legally. Clint Betterridge has committed no crime in Cambodia or Australia. I ask you Mr Howard for what crime are you holding Betterridge in a High security prison with murders for?
The media lead the world to believe Clint Betterridge was a pedophile five months before he was charged. Clint Betterridge was tried by the media. If Betterridge is recharged in Australia, he now has no chance of getting a fair trial.
Mr John Howard, as an Australian citizen and mother I am asking you to investigate the miscarriage of justice in my wrongly accused son Clint Betterridge's case. To have my son released immediately from prison.
I am asking you to investigate Mr Downer and Mr Ellison's injustice in the Betterridge case and ask what political gain did they receive for using Betterridge as a political scapegoat.
Mr Howard, if justice is not received in the Betterridge case, Mr Downer and Mr Ellison will be responsible for untold damage to the tourist industry in Cambodia. It has taken many years of hard work for the Prime Minister of Cambodia and his people to achieve what they now have with the tourist trade. What tourist will want to go to Cambodia with the fear they too will end up having their life turned into a political scapegoat and held in an Australian prison with no justice.
Yours Sincerely
Lola Betterridge.
Editor’s note to the PM. The full story is here, supported by two journalists and several researchers and supporters, and backed with affidavits.
On the subject of the tourist industry, discussion groups dedicated to travel in SE Asia have begun to discuss the dangers to male tourists in Cambodia because of this story.
Clint Betterridge’s life is now in danger
Information has emerged from inside the Queensland prison where Clint Betterridge is held that the recent attack on him may not have been either ‘paedophile related’ or intended as a one-off. The attacker is a Vietnamese* who appears to have Cambodian connections, and, as a murderer serving life for two brutal killings, he has little to lose. Clint has been warned that this man wants to kill him. It would be in the interest of the Australian authorities that the Clint Betterridge saga end with no loss of face for them, and Clint’s death would achieve that. As we have failed to find any politician with the courage to protect him in prison or re-open his case, the Ombudsman has been appealed to for help. Clint’s life is as much in danger now in Australia as it was when he was being beaten in the bamboo cage in Cambodia.
*We have the name of the attacker.
At last! The Cambodian witnesses retract
The Khmer newspapers in Cambodia have printed an open letter from the ten girl witnesses in the Betteridge and Lauwaert cases in which they state their complaints and court evidence were completely false and given for money promised to them by the child right’s group CWCC. The originals letters were sent to the Prime Minister his Excellency MR. Hun Sen and the Human rights Committee of Cambodia by these witnesses.
We have copies of the letters in Khmer which we will publish shortly. We are also sending them to the relevant Australian government ministers and officials to secure the release of Clint Betterridge from prison in Australia. We can only hope that the Cambodian authorities now release Bart Lauwaert and New Zealander Graham Cleghorn sentenced to 30 years in Cambodia because of similar false allegations engineered by the CWCC.
See all three stories under Country by country in menu on left and see the appeal from
Clint Betteridge’s mother on the front page below.
As a result of these retractions, a group of individuals all of whom were in the past accused of crimes within Cambodia by the CWCC has issued a statement and sent it to the governments and embassies of New Zealand, UK, Switzerland, Australia, France, USA, and to travel agents as follows:
Statement
The Khmer Newspapers have printed an open letter from the 10 witnesses in the Betteridge and Lauwaert cases in which they state their complaints and court evidence was completely false and was given for money promised to them by the CWCC. The original letters were sent to the Prime Minister his Excellency MR. Hun Sen and the Human rights Committee of Cambodia by these witnesses.
In view of this evidence, we urge you to issue a General Travel Warning to any of your nationals travelling to Cambodia or contemplating doing business here while the CWCC is still operational. Failure to do so could expose you to criticism or legal action if one of your nationals is targeted and falls victim to these criminals. Any organization that funds the CWCC should be aware that they are funding a body that detains people unlawfully and uses bribes, threats and terror to get them to make false allegations against foreign nationals. Further evidence is available on request of breaches of human rights and the United Charter of children's rights. For fairness it also needs to be mentioned, that Mu Suchua, an American passport holder and founding member of the CWCC and Minister of the Funcinpec party in charge of women's affairs, no longer holds the job as minister and in protest has defected to the Sam Rainsy Party.
Contact Rudolf Knuchel, Swiss national and resident in Siem Reap for the past 15 years, at
rudolfknuchel@online.com.kh
At last, Australians respond!
The last week of February 2005 is marked by the first serious response by the Australian media and establishment to both the plight of Clint Betterridge and the witch hunt that has been in progress throughout Australia and in particular in
Queensland.
On February 22 2005 came the first positive press story about Betterridge since he was incarcerated in a Brisbane jail almost two years ago. The Sydney Morning Herald carried an article titled ‘Justice denied by the long and slow arm of extradition law’, which allowed a small sigh of relief to about a half dozen individuals in Australia and overseas, including Cambodia and Ireland, who had come to believe that Australians would never listen to the huge amount of evidence of corruption against Betterridge that they had uncovered and tried, over and over, to present to the Australian authorities.
The Sydney Morning Herald article accepted that there was no concrete evidence to support the charges against him, that there had been claims of torture, that Michael Byrne, a Brisbane Queen's Counsel, thought the matter to have been delayed ‘to an extraordinary degree’, while civil libertarian Terry O'Gorman had said the case was ‘unprecedented and worrying’. It reported O'Gorman saying, 'Far, far too long has gone by. Ruddock has to make a decision and he needs to give very heavy weight indeed to the allegations of torture.'
Finally, and for the first time in the Australian media, the Sydney Morning Herald acknowledged that Michael Byrne QC had urged the government to investigate stories in Khmer newspapers that the young girls allegedly abused had withdrawn their complaints. We have been carrying that news and copies of the girls’ statements on this web site for six months. In desperation at not been listened to, the girls and their families finally appealed to friends in Cambodia and Europe who set up a special web site to carry all their evidence at Ectopia.
In the same week, The Law Council wrote to the Attorney General's Department, expressing concerns at the procedural issues associated with Betterridge's trial in absentia, in particular, by the suggestion that he will not have opportunity to fully test the evidence upon which his conviction relied. They have confirmed that they are aware of ‘previous public submissions advanced on Mr Betterridge’s behalf’ which argue that he will face harsh and inhumane conditions if returned to imprisonment in Cambodia, that the conviction for child sex offences (in absentia) offends principles of justice and procedural fairness, that the conviction itself is tainted by its reliance on false and coerced statements from unreliable witnesses, and finally that ‘the Law Council notes the allegations of Mr Betterridge’s torture and mistreatment while in Cambodia’.
On the wider scene, on February 19, 2005, The Australian, which played no small part in the witch hunt against Betterridge and others, carried an extraordinary volte-face article ‘Sad case of blind justice’ by Christopher Pearson, which hopefully signals that Australians are finally seeing the moral panic for what it has been. The article praises the ‘Australian Inquiry’ by Mike Cox and Travis Gee, published on this web site, which goes a long way towards explaining the moral panic in Australia that has led to miscarriages of justice such as the Betterridge case.
Drawing on the ‘Australian Inquiry’, Christopher Pearson reminds us of convictions such as that of a man for being a peeping tom who had been blind since birth, sexual acts reported by a girl with a ‘recovered memory’ performed in front of a class of two dozen pupils, none of whom could remember witnessing those acts, which still resulted in a 14 year sentence.
He reports that many Brisbane police prosecutors simply ‘charge him and let the courts decide’, no matter how implausible the accusation, based on the agendas of victim support organisations which can be summed up by Hetty Johnston’s infamous statement: 'If one innocent man is in jail, then too bad for him.' Because of the Queensland Beattie government’s acceptance of her beliefs, we have taken to referring to the state as ‘Hettysland'.
Guilt or innocence not relevant in Australian extradition
The Secretary to the Attorney General has made an extraordinary admission in replying to a letter of complaint sent by Scott Betterridge, brother of Clint Betterridge, on the 26th of April 2005, about the lack of action on the appeals to stop Clint’s extradition to Cambodia, where he has already been tortured and been the victim of corruption and extortion and false allegations.
Here is the last line of the letter from Robert Cornall, Secretary to the Attorney General: “The guilt or innocence of the person concerned is not a relevant consideration in deciding whether an extradition request will be granted.”
This is the first time that the Australian government, which has tried so hard to send this Australian back to Cambodia, and kept him in prison in Queensland, has admitted that they don’t care that so many of us have established his innocence.
Heaven help Australians looking for assistance from their own government to escape from corrupt overseas regimes! Australia has already taken away Bart Lauwaert’s Australian passport ensuring that even if his friends get him out of prison in Cambodia he will have no country to go to.
Cambodia admits judicial corruption – now Australia must act!
Cambodia’s Prime Minister, Hun Sen, has ordered the Minister for Justice to investigate previous decisions made by judges and prosecutors throughout the country. In a letter sent late June to Ang Vong Vathana, he has demanded that a probe be carried out and its results delivered to the Supreme Court of Magistracy's disciplinary council.
Of great significance to us is that he has singled out Phnom Penh Municipal Court Judge, Tan Senarong, as an example of a court official requiring scrutiny. This is the judge already accused of extortion and corruption by the men we are trying to free in Cambodia and Australia. We believe that Tan Senarong is already facing charges.
In his letter, Hun Sen warned that irregularity at the courts was creating impunity and seriously undermining public order and security, that the public judicial service was losing its effectiveness and quality, resulting in loss of trust from investors, and the international community.
The Australian government has no more excuses left. It is still holding Clint Betterridge, despite so much evidence already presented concerning the extortion used to convict him, and the retractions clearing him. It now also stands accused with the corrupt Cambodian judges and other court officials.
The Slide Show - Ectopia
3 years innocent in Jail Giuseppe Nicolosi
giuseppe-nicolosi-australia.jpg
Giuseppe Nicolosi's case giuseppe-nicolosi-australia.jpg
fits right in the pattern that started pretty much with the CWCC initiated cases in 2003. Again parents have apparently been promised Money (via International Justice Mission, IJM) whereas the 2.Girl which acted as a witness gave inconsistent testimony as you can read here. nicolosi-appeal-siem-reap.jpg
As usual APLE dismissed it all and accused the Judge of trying to extract extra Money from Nicolosi. One can rest assured that he will not simply walk away free without any "donation".
The Question is:
If (we are in no position to verify) Nicolosi is not guilty of any abuse and has been tricked into this fatefull case, what happens next ?
It is our firm believe that he is entiteled for a hefty compensation to be claimed from the NGO that had set him up in the first place. The compensation should include that he had to spend over 2 years in Prey Sar Prison which is at 400% of original estimated capacity and a living hell Phnom Penh - Prey Sar Jail - Living in Hell
Furthermore his whole reputation is damaged beyond any repair because people will always say: You know he was in Jail for 2 years because he was accused of sexually abusing a 5 year old girl (he was accused to buy sex from her) and an 8 year old girl witnessed it all !
There will be no one that will enlighten the rightfully enraged public that the girls have been semi encarcerated in an NGO Shelter from which they were not allowed to go home until they learned everything by heart that they had to thell the court / proscecutor.
tpf-cambodia.com suggests to take IJM and APLE to court in their respective Homeland USA and France and demand a compensation of 1 Million USD because Nicolosi will never be able to live a normal live again ! If he does not have the financial resources to go it alone he should negotiate a 50/50 sharing with the Lawyer that represents his case.
