Crime
Dutch Pastor Arrested in Cambodia on Child Pornography Charges
Pastor Evrard Nicolas Sarot, 53, has been detained on child pornography charges, Siem Reap provincial court
PHNOM PENH – A 53-year-old Dutch Old Catholic church official has been arrested in Cambodia on suspicion of producing child pornography involving young teenage boys.
Evrard Nicolas Sarot, 53, who has been seconded to provide pastoral care at Schiphol airport, is said to have paid the boys, all younger than 15, to pose for him. Police found almost 1,300 nude photographs on his camera and Ipad.
Local police chief Chhay Haklong told the Cambodia Daily: ‘He gave them some money, a couple US dollars for each person to have a naked photo. All boys, no clothes.’
The paper says anti-pedophile NGO Action Pour Les Enfants (APLE) received a report of the alleged abuse in late December from an informant and helped police investigate and identify victims.
Sarot has visited Cambodia regularly since 2011. He will appear in court in Cambodia on Thursday and faces a jail term of seven to 15 years.
Before starting work at Schiphol, where he also helped counsel relatives of the MH17 disaster, Sarot spent eight years working in Culemborg, the Telegraaf said.
Last week a prosecutor in southern Takeo province charged a Cambodian-American man with sexually abusing 11 boys aged 10 -15 years.
Poverty and poor law enforcement have made Cambodia a magnet for foreign pedophiles, but the government has cracked down on sex offenders in the past decade.
