15-Year-Old Murder of Aussie by Khmer Rouge Reexamined

Former Khmer Rouge commander Sam Bith in June 1999, weeks after he was arrested for the 1994 killing of backpacker David Wilson (Ou Neakiry / AP) More Khmer Rouge pictures slideshow

Tuesday, Mar. 02, 2010
By Brendan Brady / Phnom Penh
The Time Magazine

Almost 16 years after Australian backpacker David Wilson was kidnapped and killed in Cambodia by Khmer Rouge militia, the Australian government is resisting fresh demands for full disclosure of the case file on his death. Wilson was 29 when he was kidnapped in July 1994 along with Briton Mark Slater and Frenchman Jean-Michel Braquet in a Khmer Rouge ambush on the train they were riding from the capital Phnom Penh to the seaside town of Sihanoukville. Six weeks later, the three tourists were executed at a remote Khmer Rouge stronghold after negotiations for their release broke down. Parties intimate with the case say its reopening could reveal willful neglect by Canberra in handling the negotiations.

For years, Wilson's murder has been surrounded by intrigue. Shortly after their abduction, a wealthy Australian businessman offered to pay the $150,000 ransom the Khmer Rouge holdouts were demanding. Retired Australian commandos proposed launching a Rambo-style rescue mission. Opportunistic local middlemen muddled the ransom talks, communicating inflated figures to both sides so they could pocket the difference. Wilson's abduction occurred at a time when foreign journalists and adventurous travelers were returning to Cambodia to witness the country's Wild West atmosphere. The nation had just returned to being a nominally self-governed democracy following years of civil war, brutal communist rule, and foreign occupation. But large swaths of the country were still held by the ousted Khmer Rouge communists. Eight foreigners had been kidnapped in the four months prior to the abduction of Wilson and his friends.

Please click here to read more...