The long-anticipated trial of Swiss sex crime suspect Rudolph Knuchel, scheduled for Friday in Siem Reap provincial court, has suffered a further delay, court officials said Wednesday.
The trial was canceled after an application was filed with the Appeals Court to overturn a Siem Reap court decision to drop two of three charges initially laid against Knuchel.
Plang Chlam, Siem Reap court director, said the lawyer for eight youths who claim the Swiss man had sexual relations with them has appealed the court’s decision to drop the charges of rape and operating a place of debauchery.
Siem Reap Court officials ruled Knuchel, 54, should face only a charge of debauchery because of a lack of evidence on the additional charges, said Plang Chlam.
Knuchel denies the charges.
“The prosecutor concluded that Knuchel’s residence was not used for debauchery as he alone had sex with the boys,” Plang Chlam said. “There is [also] no evidence to prove he raped the boys. The [boys] agreed to have sex with him without being forced.”
The latest postponement comes after a year of court investigations and legal wrangling that have brought the case once already to the Appeals Court and the Supreme Court, said Plan Chlam.
“This trial is late but it is not the [Siem Reap] court’s fault. The legal process in Cambodia takes a long time,” Plang Chlam said.
Director of the Appeals Court Ly Vouch Leng said Wednesday she has not received the appeal application.
Knuchel, a long-time resident of Siem Reap town, was arrested Jan 26 after a late-night police raid at his restaurant and business center, where he was found partially naked with two youths aged 14 and 18. During a subsequent court investigation, several other Siem Reap youths claimed to have had sexual relations with Knuchel.
