Director sentenced to 6 years in Cambodian jail

Australian filmmaker James Ricketson has been found guilty of espionage and sentenced to six years in a Cambodian prison.

ABC reports the court ruled that Ricketson, 69, had for more than 20 years used his documentary projects and humanitarian work as cover while collecting information that could jeopardise Cambodia’s national security, despite a prosecution that offered little evidence to support the charge.

Prosecutors have never named the foreign country for which he allegedly spied.  As the prison van left after the verdict, Ricketson shouted to reporters: “Who am I spying for?′

Ricketson was detained last year after flying a drone to photograph an opposition party political rally. Prosecutors have also indicated he was suspected of working for the opposition party.

Ricketson, 69, is suffering a number of health issues having already been locked in the Prey Sar prison for 14 months. Earlier this month he was given a character testimony from director Peter Weir.

Ricketson is one of the 18 founding members of the Australian Directors Guild, whose body of work includes feature films: Third Person Plural (1978), Candy Regentag (1989), Blackfellas (1994). He also directed one of the four episodes of the miniseries Women of the Sun and was a producer on ABC series Chequerboard.

The Australian Directors Guild has called on the Australian Government to intervene.

“We call on the new Foreign Minister, Marise Payne, to contact her counterpart in Cambodia and seek clemency for James and for him to be sent home,” said Kingston Anderson, CEO of the Australian Directors Guild. “Based on the evidence and what we know of James we do not believe he was spying for anyone. He was in the wrong place at the wrong time and may have contravened some local regulations but he was not spying for any government.”

The ADG made representations to the Turnbull Government when Ricktson was first arrested and various members of the ADG including Peter Weir and Philip Noyce have been actively supporting James in his bid for justice. The ADG has also been supporting a petition amongst its members to get the Australian government to act for him.

Ricketson has 30 days to appeal the sentence.

Source: ABC, Associated Press