French national sentenced to 6 years for prostituting women in Cambodia

The Associated Press

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia

A French bar owner has been sentenced to six years in prison for prostituting his waitresses to foreigners in the Cambodian capital, a court official said Tuesday.Bruno Fumat, 52, was convicted in a trial Monday of forcing seven Vietnamese women to have sex with his customers, according to Kry Sok Y, a court prosecutor. He had denied the allegation.

Thach Va, a 32 year-old Vietnamese woman who is Fumat's girlfriend, was sentenced to six years in prison on the same charge, the prosecutor said, adding that the woman was charged with recruiting the girls.

During the trial, Bruno said he had hired the women to work merely as waitresses, Kry Sok Y said. His lawyer, Ly Sovanna dismissed the verdict as unjust and said he will file an appeal.
Fumat was arrested in June during a raid on his bar in the capital, Phnom Penh.