Diplomatic row between China, Cambodia and France over Patrick Devillers

Meanwhile, France has warned that Cambodia must not take any action without a
clear legal basis. “We have asked Cambodian authorities for
clarifications on the motives for his arrest,” said the French Foreign
ministry spokesman Bernard Valero.

“We have made clear that we will be watchful that no legal action of any
kind be brought against him unless its legal basis has been clearly
established.”

He added: “We are following this case very closely and providing consular
protection. The consul visited him immediately after his arrest and
continues to do so each day.”

One guard, who lives close to the two-floor villa in Phnom Penh that Mr
Devillers rented, said he had witnessed his arrest. “Several Cambodian
policemen came to Patrick’s house around two weeks ago,” he said.

“Two other people came shortly afterwards. I did not see what nationality
they were, but they were foreigners and they were not Chinese. Around 20
minutes later, Patrick was taken away and I have not seen him since.”

Asked a number of times about Mr Devillers’ arrest, Hong Lei, a Chinese
foreign ministry spokesman, told a daily news briefing: “I have no
information about that to provide to you.”

Mr Devillers is thought to be in custody in the Cambodian capital’s
Immigration Detention Centre. An architect who once helped Mr Bo and his
wife plan the street grid of Dalian, the city which they presided over in
the 1990s, he is thought to have lived in Cambodia since 2005.

He works as a property investor and owns a small wooden villa he designed
himself overlooking the resort of Kep. He is also believed to have married a
Cambodian woman with whom he has a young son.

However, neither the guard, nor a shopowner nearby, had ever seen his family. “I
used to see him drive out in his Nissan or on his electric bike, but he was
always alone,” said the guard.

The shop owner said Mr Devillers had lived at the address for around five
years and used it as the base for his design company.

“He spoke very good Chinese and told me he had some business there before
he came to Cambodia. He was always friendly to me, and to his neighbours. I
know he had just renewed his lease with his landlord for another ten years
and had plans to enlarge the villa and expand his company,” she said,
declining to give her name.

While Mr Devillers was the joint founder of a company in Bournemouth with Mrs
Gu in 2000, there is little sign of any connection after 2006, when Golden
Map, a company reportedly run by him out of Hong Kong, bought a flat in
Coleherne Court, the apartment block in South Kensington where Diana,
Princess of Wales, lived before her marriage.

Mrs Gu is thought to have stayed there and her son, Bo Guagua, may also have
used it while studied he at Harrow and then at Oxford university.

Neither Cambodia nor China have publicly charged Mr Devillers with a crime. Mr
Bo and his wife, meanwhile, have not been seen in public since mid-March,
when he was removed from his Communist party positions and put under
investigation.

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