Out of Cambodian jail, filmmaker strolls on beach back home
CANBERRA, Australia — Australian filmmaker James Ricketson took a stroll on a Sydney beach at dawn Monday while recuperating from more than a year in a Cambodian prison, his nephew said.
Ricketson, 69, landed in Sydney on Sunday night two days after his 15-month stint in a Phnom Penh prison ended with clemency granted by Cambodian King Norodom Sihamoni.
The filmmaker had been arrested after flying a drone to photograph an opposition party rally in June 2017. He was sentenced on Aug. 31 this year to six years in prison for alleged espionage even though prosecutors never specified whom he was spying for nor presented evidence that he possessed or transmitted any secrets.
Ricketson’s arrest came during a severe crackdown on political opponents and media in Cambodia before its general elections this year that were widely considered neither free nor fair and resulted in a sweeping victory by long-ruling Prime Minister Hun Sen and his party.