Government spokesman and Minister of Information Khieu Kanharith said Sunday that he is considering blacklisting a French filmmaker who produced a 2003 documentary about sex tourism in Cambodia.
But he denied allegations that the government last week prevented Daniel Laine from leaving the country in an attempt to extort money from him.
France-based Reporters Without Borders issued a statement Thursday alleging that “corrupt Cambodian officials” were preventing Laine from leaving the country and had demanded that he shell out $125,000 to settle a flimsy, three-year-old court case brought against him for his film “Investigation into Sex Tourism in Cambodia.”
“The current proceedings against him are unacceptable and constitute a form of institutional extortion,” the Thursday statement said. “He now faces the possibility of being place[d] in custody while the Phnom Penh Municipal Court reaches a decision on his case.”
The media rights group claimed Cambodian officials encouraged an unidentified French citizen interviewed in Laine’s film to file the lawsuit because it did not like the way the filmmaker portrayed Cambodia. The French citizen also had a grudge of his own against Laine: Though he signed a broadcast release form and his face was pixilated and his voice distorted, his family saw the film about the sex trade and recognized him in it.
The lawsuit accused Laine of “broadcasting false information” and a “report banned by the authorities.”
Reporters Without Borders claims that when Laine attempted to leave the country in 2003, the government blocked him from doing so until he signed an agreement promising to send the government $125,000 upon his return to France. The money was to be shared with the French national. But Laine never paid the money. Instead he filed court complaints in France and Phnom Penh.
When Laine recently returned to Cambodia, authorities detained him and refused to let him leave until he paid up.
“The agreement has no legal value because Laine was forced to sign it,” Reporters Without Borders said in their statement. “His documentary just portrayed a reality and that does not attack a country’s dignity.”
Khieu Kanharith acknowledged Sunday that police called Laine in for questioning last week at the Ministry of Interior, and spoke with him for about an hour. But he said police released him because there was no warrant from the court to detain him.
He added that Laine has already left the country. Khieu Kanharith said Sunday that the French man who appeared in Laine’s film was seeking $125,000, and that authorities had not asked for the money.
Khieu Kanharith condemned Laine’s film as “unprofessional work.” He also claimed Laine approached poor Cambodian families and told them he was looking for a virgin wife. “Poor Cambodian families brought out their daughters to show him hoping their daughters could marry and go live in France,” he said. “But Daniel Laine featured it in his film claiming Cambodian parents sold their daughters. He exploits poor Cambodian families. I am considering whether he should be blacklisted.”
Khieu Kanharith said Laine and the plaintiff were the “same kind of person,” and said their dispute was an example of “gang mistreats gang.” Reporters Without Borders will support any journalist, and should be more selective about the cases they take, he argued. “Reporters Without Borders is too supportive,” he said. “they think all journalists are faithful.”
Claude Abily, spokeswoman at the French Embassy, said Sunday that she could not comment on a judicial matter or on Laine’s whereabouts, but added that the embassy is following his case closely.
Phnom Penh Police Chief Touch Naruth said he was in a meeting and was unable to comment when contacted Sunday.
Mok Chito, chief of the penal police department for the Ministry of Interior and Keo Thea, deputy municipal anti-trafficking police chief, both said they had no knowledge of the case.
Ouk Savuth, chief prosecutor of the Phnom Penh court, declined to comment.
