An Australian national has been found dead in his Cambodian jail cell, officials and family said yesterday.
Bart “Lucky” Lauwaert, a former teacher, had been serving a 20-year sentence for child sex offenses in a case that was spearheaded by Cambodian Women’s Crisis Center (CWCC), a local rights group.
In a phone interview from Siem Reap prison, 400km north of the capital, after his last avenue of appeal was closed last month, Lauwaert threatened suicide and alleged he had been “set up” by people trying to garner donor aid from high profile arrests.
A prison official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Lauwaert had not been on suicide watch and no formal cause of death had been established, although heart failure had not been ruled out.
Lauwaert, 41, was arrested with fellow Australian Clinton Betterridge in 2002 and the pair was charged with molesting more than a dozen Cambodian girls aged under 15 in Siem Reap.
Their case became controversial in 2006 when all the girls who had originally testified against the men in Siem Reap court recanted in the Cambodian Appeals Court, claiming they were promised financial rewards by the CWCC for their testimony.
The CWCC said the girls had been coerced by a pedophile ring, but despite his 10-year sentence being upheld in absentia, Betterridge was released the same day from an Australian jail where he had been held since jumping bail and fleeing Cambodia.
Then-Australian justice minister Chris Ellison also ordered a full investigation into any Australian aid supplied to the CWCC.
The CWCC strenuously denies any wrongdoing, pointing to continued funding from highly reputable donors including USAid and a decade-long record dotted with awards and accolades.
A former Siem Reap judge, Tan Senarong, has publicly admitted his sister works for the CWCC Siem Reap, but denies she works in any area of the organization where a conflict of interest could arise.
One final foreigner remains in jail from a CWCC spearheaded investigation. New Zealand national Graham Cleghorn has also claimed he was set up by powerful interests wanting his valuable land in Siem Reap, which has been sold since his 2004 arrest.
He is also in poor health, according to his family and a doctor’s report, and has also threatened suicide if his appeals fail.
The CWCC founder and director in charge when the foreign men were arrested, Oung Chanthol, resigned last year citing fatigue over the controversy and a need to spend more time with her children.
BACKLASH: The National Party quit its decades-long partnership with the Liberal Party after their election loss to center-left Labor, which won a historic third term Australia’s National Party has split from its conservative coalition partner of more than 60 years, the Liberal Party, citing policy differences over renewable energy and after a resounding loss at a national election this month. “Its time to have a break,” Nationals leader David Littleproud told reporters yesterday. The split shows the pressure on Australia’s conservative parties after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s center-left Labor party won a historic second term in the May 3 election, powered by a voter backlash against US President Donald Trump’s policies. Under the long-standing partnership in state and federal politics, the Liberal and National coalition had shared power
CONTROVERSY: During the performance of Israel’s entrant Yuval Raphael’s song ‘New Day Will Rise,’ loud whistles were heard and two people tried to get on stage Austria’s JJ yesterday won the Eurovision Song Contest, with his operatic song Wasted Love triumphing at the world’s biggest live music television event. After votes from national juries around Europe and viewers from across the continent and beyond, JJ gave Austria its first victory since bearded drag performer Conchita Wurst’s 2014 triumph. After the nail-biting drama as the votes were revealed running into yesterday morning, Austria finished with 436 points, ahead of Israel — whose participation drew protests — on 357 and Estonia on 356. “Thank you to you, Europe, for making my dreams come true,” 24-year-old countertenor JJ, whose
NO EXCUSES: Marcos said his administration was acting on voters’ demands, but an academic said the move was emotionally motivated after a poor midterm showing Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr yesterday sought the resignation of all his Cabinet secretaries, in a move seen as an attempt to reset the political agenda and assert his authority over the second half of his single six-year term. The order came after the president’s allies failed to win a majority of Senate seats contested in the 12 polls on Monday last week, leaving Marcos facing a divided political and legislative landscape that could thwart his attempts to have an ally succeed him in 2028. “He’s talking to the people, trying to salvage whatever political capital he has left. I think it’s
A documentary whose main subject, 25-year-old photojournalist Fatima Hassouna, was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza weeks before it premiered at Cannes stunned viewers into silence at the festival on Thursday. As the cinema lights came back on, filmmaker Sepideh Farsi held up an image of the young Palestinian woman killed with younger siblings on April 16, and encouraged the audience to stand up and clap to pay tribute. “To kill a child, to kill a photographer is unacceptable,” Farsi said. “There are still children to save. It must be done fast,” the exiled Iranian filmmaker added. With Israel