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Film-maker James Ricketson pardoned by Cambodian King, arrives in Sydney September 24, 2018

Posted by bohdan.warchomij in : Metaphor Online , trackback

The Australian film-maker James Ricketson has landed on home soil but has promised he will return to Cambodia, days after being granted a royal pardon.

Ricketson, 69, landed in Sydney on Sunday night just 48 hours after his 15-month incarceration in a Phnom Penh prison, where he was held on accusations of spying, ended with clemency from the Cambodian king, Norodom Sihamoni.

“I’ll be going back as soon as I can but I’ll need to recover obviously,” he told reporters. “I need to spend some time with myself and some time with my family. But yeah, I’ll be going back.”

The Australian Directors Guild co-founder deflected questions about how his release came about, but thanked the Cambodian prime minister, Hun Sen, for recommending the king pardon him “for a crime I did not commit”.

He said there was “room for improvement” in the way the Australian government handled his case.

“I’ll leave it at that for the time being; I really need to go home and go to bed now,” he said. “I do have a good story to tell but now, at the airport, is not the right time to tell it.”

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