The trial of Australian James Ricketson continues. Here’s an updated wrap from yesterday: smh.com.au/world/asia/per… More questioning this morning, concluding statements scheduled for this afternoon.
Judge Ros Piseth is questioning Ricketson about his finances. Judge asks if he has a receipt for the $80,000 funding he got for the documentary “Sleeping with Cambodia”. Ricketson said all his financial records are in Australia.
Ricketson said he received about half a million each for two film projects, Biva and Backpackers Australia. He also received $20,000 from Al Jazeera for “Little Booksellers of Phnom Penh.” Judges also ask him about inheritance.
On his expenses in Cambodia, said he would have spent about $25 a day until 2013, when he started to spend more on accom. Ricketson said he gave $6,000 to adopted daughter Chanti to buy land and renovate a house. He gives the family $110/week.
He has paid school fees for other children living on the streets. Ricketson re-states his intention to buy houses for families living on the Stung Meanchey rubbish dump and wants to raise $140,000 for this project. Says he brought bread to the kids every morning.
A lot of this morning is re-hashing financial details the court has already heard. His lawyer Kong Sam Onn now returns to the letter he wrote to Malcolm Turnbull.
Ricketson has taken on an apologetic tone. He said the letter was “probably ill advised”. “I expressed myself in words that were probably too strong.”
“Again I extend my apology to Mr Hun Sen,” for any “pain, offence or embarrassment”. It was “a letter that I did not believe would become the subject of a court case...I should not have expressed my feelings at the time to my own Prime Minister in the strong words that I used.”
Ricketson said he never received a reply from Malcolm Turnbull. He said he wrote when he was upset about the death of Kem Ley. We’re breaking now to give Ricketson a chance to speak to his lawyer. Court will resume at 2.30 local time.
Prosecutor’s closing remarks: Ricketson used his humanitarian and filmmaking activities to disguise spying activity. His charity was mask for gathering information.
“His intention was to conceal the significance” of the information he gathered, and he “incited hatred to change the government of Cambodia,” Prosecutor Sieng Sok said.
Ricketson wrote to senior leaders of the CNRP (Sam Rainsy, Mu Sochua, Yim Sovann, Kem Sokha, Hong Sok Hour). He travelled to Cambodia on a tourist visa and worked here “illegally”, prosecution claims.
“He is a foreigner who came to stay in Cambodia to do activities and commit offenses,” prosecution claims.
Prosecution recommends convicting Ricketson. Sentence could be up to 10 years.
Ricketson’s lawyer Kong Sam Onn now delivering an impassioned response. Ricketson does not look like a spy. There is no evidence to prove this charge, he said.
“It is a mistake,” Sam Onn says. It’s impossible that he is a spy. His film work is all available publicly online, not confidential. Does a spy publish in newspapers and put on television? I am not an expert on spies, he said, but surely a spy’s job is not like this?
Questions of a new charge in the Prosecution’s closing statement? Article 439. This appears to be just a legal definition, possibly? Treason = committed by a Cambodian, espionage = committed by a foreigner. Article 446 is what Ricketson was charged with initially. 
James delivers his closing statement. He finds it a nonsensical proposition that he has been pretending to be a filmmaker for more than 20 years to hide his true aspiration as a spy.
He says if seeking funding from foreign countries to make documentaries is considered an act of espionage, then potentially any documentary filmmaker who does this could be found guilty of spying in Cambodia.
“The role of the Court is to find the truth. This is the job of a documentary filmmaker and journalist. We strive to be as truthful as we possibly can.”
Ricketson was “astonished” to be told he was charged with espionage. The accusation was “without merit or justification”.
Ricketson says the idea a spy would communicate with the PM over gmail is “fanciful and ludicrous”.
“I do not know what I have done to deserve this vexatious treatment I have been subjected to by the prosecutor.” Says the purpose of the trial is lost on him.
“One possible reason for my prosecution is to silence a critic of the government, sending a message to other journalists, both Khmer and non-Khmer.”
His intention was never to defame Cambodia’s government. “My intention is to speak the truth as I see it.” Repeats that he loves #Cambodia and the Cambodian people.
Closing with a reference to Nietzche: “I trust the truth revealed in this court... will set me free as soon as possible,” Ricketson said.
Judges announce verdict will be delivered on Friday morning, August 31.
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