French tourists arrested for nude photos at Cambodia's Angkor temple

[geovalin]

Three French tourists have been arrested by Cambodian authorities for taking nude photos of each other inside the country's famed Angkor temple complex, officials said.

The male tourists were discovered inside the Banteay Kdei temple at the world heritage site, Chau Sun Kerya, spokeswoman for the Apsara Authority -- the government agency managing the Angkor complex told AFP.

"The temple is a worship site and their behaviour is inappropriate. They were nude," she said.

Keat Bunthan, a senior heritage police official in northwestern Siem Reap province, confirmed the nationalities of the arrested and said many Cambodians would be offended by the tourists' actions.

"Their activities affect our culture. Nobody should take nude pictures at ancient temples," he told AFP.

The Apsara Authority said in a statement that the three tourists have "admitted they really made a mistake by taking nude pictures".

The agency added Cambodian police were building a case against them.

The tourists were caught just days after a series of photos of Asian women posing nude at ancient Cambodian temples went viral online and outraged officials.

The Angkor Archaeological Park, a world heritage site, contains the remains of the different capitals of the Khmer Empire, dating from the 9th to the 15th century and is Cambodia's most popular tourist destination.

http://www.timeslive.co.za/world/2015/01/30/french-tourists-arrested-for-nude-photos-at-cambodia-s-angkor-temple

AFP

[gomangosteen]

suspended jail sentenes, fined, deported and banned

full article at link

3 Frenchmen given suspended jail term for nude photos at Cambodian heritage site

1 February 2015

After a full day hearing the court convicted the three Frenchmen of showing their sex organs and producing pornographic pictures and sentenced each of them to six months in prison, but the whole jail term is suspended"

The trio were also fined 250 U.S. dollars, he said.

"They will be deported from Cambodia on Sunday and banned from re-entering Cambodia for four years," he added.

Edited February 1, 2015 by gomangosteen

[geovalin]

PPP point of view

Stripping shutterbugs deported

Mon, 2 February 2015

Sen David

Three French nationals who posed nude at a sacred Siem Reap temple were flown out of Cambodia yesterday after a judge ordered their deportation.

Siem Reap provincial judge Kuy Soa on Saturday handed down six-month suspended prison sentences and ordered the deportation of three French nationals who posed nude for photographs at Banteay Kdei temple.

Defendants Vincent Henri, 20, Rodolphe Fourgeot, 21, and Alexander Andre Raymond, 22, must also each pay 1 million riel ($250) as part of the sentence. He convicted the trio of trafficking in pornographic images.

“Siem Reap court has decided to sentence them six months [suspended], fined them 1 million riel, and banned them from Cambodian territory for four years,” Soa said in an interview yesterday.

The three men were flown out of the Kingdom for France via Siem Reap International Airport at about 2am yesterday, said Chao Sun Kerya, spokeswoman for the Apsara Authority, which oversees Siem Reap’s temples.

A guard caught Henri, Fourgeot and Raymond in the act on Thursday, Sun Kerya said. All confessed to the crime, but said they did not fully understand the impact of their actions until after they had taken the nude photos, she added.

“This is an illegal action; immediately after temple guard officials found them naked for photos in Banteay Kdei temple, they admitted to the act,” Sun Kerya said.

After their Thursday indiscretion, the men posted a video online apologising, saying they did not understand the gravity of the cultural faux pas.

The deportations came about a week after photos of partially clothed women posing at Banteay Kdei temple surfaced online, with a watermark for “WANIMAL”, a Chinese photo-sharing website.

Those photos, which were seen on a WANIMAL account which includes photos of nude women posing with exotic backgrounds, were also decried by Apsara Authority officials as disrespectful to Khmer culture.

Siem Reap tourism police officer Soung Seng Kim yesterday underscored the department’s position that taking nude photos at sacred sites runs contrary to the law and cultural respect.