In March 2015, Swiss expatriate Pirmin Ramel was arrested in Siem Reap and charged with allegedly having sex with three boys, aged seven, eight, and nine years old.
Now, 10 months later although Mr. Ramel’s verdict is still pending, he has been released on bail indefinitely while the investigation into his case continues.
Mr. Ramel, manager of the Villa Shanti boutique hotel in Svay Dangkum commune, was arrested after the parents of one of the three victims filed a complaint after seeing photos on Mr. Ramel’s Facebook page of the boys playing in Villa Shanti’s swimming pool.
The Siem Reap provincial court charged the now 33-year old with having sex with all three underage boys.
On March 23rd, 2015 – a week after Mr. Ramel was charged – a public message was posted to his personal Facebook page saying that Mr. Ramel’s profile would be deactivated for an indefinite amount of time, and that he would also be unreachable by phone or email.
Three months later, on June 27th, Mr. Ramel was back online.
“Though released on bail, Mr. Pirmin Ramel still has his case pending at Siem Reap provincial court,” child protection NGO, Action Pour Les Enfants (APLE) Cambodia ‘s Deputy Director of Field Operations Khoem Vando confirms. “The case is now being investigated by [a] Siem Reap investigating judge. There is no specific schedule of when the investigating judge will conclude the case. If the fixed schedule is set, the trial will follow subsequently.”
According to information obtained by APLE Cambodia, Mr. Ramel settled with the families of the alleged victims for an undisclosed amount. Mr. Ramel could not be reached for comment yesterday.
Source: http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/20573/alleged-child-rapist-out-on-bail-less-than-a-year-after-arrest/
