Written by Chrann Chamroeun
Wednesday, 17 June 2009
Phnom Penh Post
RESIDENTS of a pagoda in Kandal province travelled to Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Tuesday to demand the release of the pagoda's well-known committee director who has been arrested on suspicion of rape.
Ros Sarin, 56, also a layman at Ponhea Leu district's Wat Sovan Thormareach, was arrested Sunday by military police after they received complaints that he assaulted women who came to him for holy water, magic potions and advice about love.
He was formally charged on Tuesday along with his assistant, Hang Samoeun, with two counts of rape and debauchery, Sok Roeun, the court's deputy prosecutor said.
"These allegations [of sexual assault] are made up," said monk Sok Thearin, who has been living at the pagoda for nearly 10 years.
"As I know him, he is a holy man and has a good reputation for improving the pagoda, which receives lots donations from overseas," he added.
Military Police Chief Sao Sokha told the Post Tuesday that the men were arrested after authorities received a warrant from the court to interrogate them. He added that pornographic videos and energy drinks were seized from Ros Sarin's home.
"If the two men are found guilty of their charges, it would severely impact the Buddhist religion," he said.
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Associated Press
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — A Cambodian man who claimed to have a magic cure for women worried about the fidelity of their partners was charged Tuesday with rape and child sexual abuse.
Police said that Ros Sarin, 56, had established himself 15 years ago as having magic powers that women could avail to ensure true love from their husbands or boyfriends.
Lt. Gen. Sao Sokha, the chief of military police, said the man was arrested Sunday after the Phnom Penh Municipal Court received a complaint from a woman claiming she had been raped during a consultation.
Sok Rouen, a prosecutor of the court, had Ros Sarin charged Tuesday with a dozen counts of rape and child sexual abuse.
The newspaper Reaksmei Kampuchea reported Tuesday that the man had conducted his activities in a secluded corner of a Buddhist pagoda, 20 miles north of the capital Phnom Penh.
It said that when his clients visited, they were first required to swear an oath in front of Buddha's statue that they would not reveal what went on inside.
They were then allegedly put in a locked room, given a drink claimed to be water but meant to increase their sexual appetite, shown a sex video while Ros Sarin chanted, and then raped.
The newspaper cited officials who asked not to be named saying that more than 100 women and girls had been raped by the suspect.
Belief in magic for good and evil is widespread in many countries of Southeast Asia, and often associated with local practices of Buddhism, though black magic is not part of the religion.
Similar cases surface occasionally in neighboring Thailand.
Hang Samouen, 43, alleged to be a confederate of the suspect, was arrested and charged Tuesday with conspiracy, Sao Sokha said.
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