I was arrested in Phnom Penh in June 2011 when Cambodian police conducted a search of my landlady’s apartment. Since she was not home, the police entered my apartment and arrested me and my girlfriend for the drugs they had found at our landlady’s place.
My girlfriend and I were both sentenced to 28 years in prison and were fined 15,000 USD for possession and drug offences – entirely without any form of technical evidence or testimony. The trial was a tragic and dreadful farce.
I was transferred to Sweden in April 2023 after surviving 12 years in a Cambodian prison, and I have now served an additional 2 years in a Swedish prison.
You are placed in a cell of about 20m² where approximately 60 men live. There is no space for furniture, no kitchen, bathroom, living room, or bedroom. There is a hole in the ground used as a toilet, and there is a span of water, a lamp in the ceiling that is on for one hour a day. People smuggle in phones and fans, which are charged by stealing electricity.
The days are spent cooking, washing, watching an endless amount of YouTube, playing cards, and on nice days, exercising outdoors or shopping at the kiosk.
When I first arrived at the prison, I stayed in a slightly larger room, but it was cramped as well. At first, I slept directly on the concrete until I managed to get a blanket. Once a day, we were allowed to go out into the yard for a few hours. I used that time to shop for food, exercise, and sometimes talk to my girlfriend who lived in the women’s section when I was still allowed to before Covid.
You sleep on the floor or in hammocks; if you have extra money, you can get a slightly larger cell with bunk beds, as long as you were on good terms with the prison guard.
You are given food by the prison if you want, but it is so bad that I nearly died the first few weeks. Westerners can’t handle that menu, so we have to go to the prison’s kiosk and buy food to cook in our cell instead. The Swedish government supported me with loans so I could afford food, water, and simple things.
My parents supported me with a monthly allowance in addition to everything they sent me over the years, from mattresses, toothbrushes, and underwear to hobby items for my girlfriend.