Cambodia says it will not deport a French architect arrested earlier this month at the behest of China.
Foreign Minister Hor Namhong told reporters Friday that Patrick Devillers, arrested June 13 in Phnom Penh, will remain in Cambodian custody.
It remains unclear what he is being investigated for, but Devillers has been linked socially and professionally with the jailed wife of Bo Xilai, a former Chinese Communist Party official who is at the center of a Chinese political crisis.
Bo’s wife, Gu Kailai, is accused of killing a British national in a corruption cover up.
“The decision is already made,” Hor Namhong said Friday. “We’ll keep him here and won’t extradite him anywhere, not to France or China. We’ll keep him in Cambodia.”