The child-protection groups that petitioned Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Sar Kheng last month to have convicted pedophile Alexander Trofimov deported following his controversial release from prison are still waiting for a decision, the director of one of the 14 national and international NGOs that signed the petition said yesterday.

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Dutch pedophile Rene Paul Martin Aubel during his arrest in a rented room in Phnom Penh in June 2004.

Samleang Seila, director of Action Pour les Enfants, said he believed that the deputy premier will eventually deport the Russian national, whose release from Preah Sihanouk provincial prison via a royal pardon on December 20 sparked outrage.

“I believe the government will deport Trofimov into police custody in Russia, although the process is quite slow,” he told the Post. The petition was sent to the deputy premier’s office on December 30 and about one week later it was forwarded to the Cambodian National Police for advice, Samleang Seila said, adding that the police had returned it to Sar Kheng last week with their advice.

Samleang Seila did not know, however, what advice the police provided on the petition, which noted that “Alexander Trofimov seems to have been granted special favours, ranging from consolidation of his sentence, being kept in a special comfortable prison room, frequently allowed to go out of prison, reduction of sentence granted once per year and royal pardon”.

Also known as Stanislav Molodyakov in Russia, where he reportedly raped six girls aged nine and 10, Trofimov is believed to be in Phnom Penh, child protection officers said. They cited information gathered from neighbours of a villa owned by a government official that he had been staying at in Sihanoukville last month.

Two other pedophiles released from prison by royal pardon also remain in the Kingdom, child protection officers monitoring them said. German pedophile Alexander Wartin, who was released on the same day as Trofimov, and Dutch pedophile Rene Paul Martin Aubel, who was released three days later, are in Sihanoukville, they said.

Aubel was imprisoned for sex crimes against six boys and Wartin for sex crimes against four. Earlier this month, both men had eluded the child-protection officers monitoring them, but Aubel has been relocated, Samleang Seila said. Aubel shifted between three guesthouses in Phnom Penh before traveling to Sihanoukville last Friday, those monitoring him said.

“We are very worried that he will molest children in Sihanoukville,” Samleang Seila said. Watrin, who was released in Sihanoukville, traveled to Phnom Penh earlier this month, departing the bus on the outskirts of the city. He is believed to have returned to the coastal resort, but those who had been monitoring him say they have not identified his location.