Ernst Ivankowitsch, the 73-year-old Austrian who was arrested for allegedly sexually abusing a 14-year-old girl since she was 9, will stand trial in Phnom Penh Municipal Court, though no date has been set, an investigative judge said Sunday.
Ivankowitsch is free on bail and remains in Cambodia, said Investigating Judge Kim Sophorn.
Ivankowitsch “is allowed to stay out of detention based on two points,” he said. “The unclear age of the girl, and because he is very old, 73, and handicapped.”
Ivankowitsch has a prosthetic leg.
“This decision was based on humanitarian” grounds, Kim Sophorn added.
Ivankowitsch is unable to leave Cambodia because his passport has been confiscated, the investigating judge said.
Ivankowitsch’s whereabouts are unknown, Hout Sophorn, the lawyer working on behalf of the girl said Thursday.
The suspect was arrested Nov 6, after police raided his hotel room and caught him on video wearing only his underwear, in the company of the naked girl. He was released on Nov 7 on orders from court officials.
Action Pour les Enfants, an NGO that has helped care for the girl since the raid, will appeal to the Phnom Penh Municipal Court today to rearrest Ivankowitsch, Hang Vibol, the NGO’s director, said Sunday.
“I don’t know why they released the suspect,” he said.
The Austrian police have been contacted to collaborate on the case, Hang Vibol added. The German Embassy will also be contacted, in the absence of an Austrian Embassy in Phnom Penh, he said.
Officials at the German Embassy were unavailable for comment Sunday.
On Friday afternoon, the girl was collected from the Cambodian Women’s Crisis Center, where she had been staying, by her mother, Meung Mach, and two unidentified relatives, CWCC monitor Nop Sarin Sreiroth said Sunday.
Action Pour les Enfants lawyers have said the girl’s parents were complicit in her abuse and that they inflated the girl’s age to 16 to ensure Ivankowitsch’s release.
“Her mother brought a letter from court with permission for her to go back home,” Nop Sarin Sreiroth said. “The girl wanted to go with her mother.”
Nop Sarin Sreiroth said she will interview the girl at her home today. Meung Mach has promised to take care of her children and ensure the daughter stays at home, Nop Sarin Sreiroth said.
