The Canadian Government is involved in a cover-up over the death of journalist and film-maker David Walker, it was claimed today.
And if they did not acknowledge the evidence they had been given demonstrating that he had been murdered, Walker’s representatives would provide it themselves.
In a 2800 word press signed off by Tammy Madon, Walker’s cousin in Edmonton, Alberta, ‘the family’ deplored statements issued by Cambodian officials that Walker died of a heart attack.
And they called on the Canadian government also to protest statements issued by the Cambodian authorities.
“The Canadian government knows precisely that the expert professional determination is that Dave Walker was murdered. Dave Walker’s family knows precisely that Dave Walker, a Canadian citizen, was murdered.
“That Dave Walker was murdered is the undisputed professional conclusion of every investigator, Canadian and Cambodian government representative, and medical professional who witnessed and examined the scene and analyzed the body of Dave Walker. The fact that Walker was murdered is not in dispute………
“In response, the Canadian government has chosen to pull every single official government representative from Cambodia, leaving Walker’s body unrefrigerated in a rural Cambodian medical facility and now under the authority of the Cambodian government who are falsely misrepresenting the conclusions of the professional medical and forensic examinations which unambiguously suggest that Walker was murdered…………
“If the Canadian government does not refute these false statements suggesting the cause of Walker’s death was a natural death caused by a heart attack concluded after an autopsy was performed, the family of Dave Walker will release the same documents and information of which the government of Canada is in possession…………”
“It is an embarrassment and a betrayal of Canadian citizens, and those who expect Canada to stand up for rule of law, for the government of Canada to continue to stand by, with apparent disinterest, incompetence, dishonesty, or impotence, doing nothing with clear knowledge that a Canadian citizen has been murdered.”
The press release ,which in the main forms an attack on the Canadian government, is possibly the longest press release this writer has ever read.
But while the Thai Ministry of Justice Pathology team says it will not come out with official findings for another month there can be no official statement saying that he was murdered. The Canadians therefore cannot officially offer their assistance with a murder investigation.
Nevertheless the Canadian Government’s action, or lack of it, is quite clearly of concern to hundreds if not thousands of Canadian citizens, plus the journalists and media people who knew Dave in Southeast Asia. For full text of the statement see below.
The body of Dave Walker, a former policeman, who has also served in the British Army’s 14th Intelligence Company in Northern Ireland before becoming a journalist and filmmaker was found last week outside the Gate of Death at Angkor Thom, near Siem Reap.
BLOG CANADIAN GOVERNMENT MUST DENOUNCE CAMBODIAN GOVERNMENT COVER UP OF MURDERED CANADIAN JOURNALIST DAVE WALKER
Family of Murdered Journalist Dave Walker Demands Canadian Government Take Control of Murder Investigation, Publicly Refute Cover up Attempt By Elements of Cambodian Government
The family of murdered Canadian journalist Dave Walker is deeply disturbed by false published reports quoting Cambodian government law enforcement officials saying the professional medical examination to determine the cause of Dave Walker’s death performed by a specialist forensic and medical team from the Thai Ministry of Justice has concluded that Walker “died of natural causes”, “after an autopsy was performed”, and that Walker died of a “heart attack.” Touch Malai, deputy chief of the Siem Reap provincial technical and scientific police unit, was quoted as saying that the eight forensic experts from Thailand and Canada carried out an autopsy at a Siem Reap provincial hospital.
These statements are indisputably false and the true facts that Canadian citizen journalist Dave Walker was murdered are precisely known to the Canadian government, the Cambodian government, the professional medical team of pathologists and forensic specialists and the family of Dave Walker.
No autopsy has been performed on Dave Walker.
These knowingly false statements are being made in the name of the government of Cambodia. The Canadian government knows precisely that the expert professional determination is that Dave Walker was murdered. Dave Walker’s family knows precisely that Dave Walker, a Canadian citizen, was murdered. That Dave Walker was murdered is the undisputed professional conclusion of every investigator, Canadian and Cambodian government representative, and medical professional who witnessed and examined the scene and analyzed the body of Dave Walker. The fact that Walker was murdered is not in dispute.
The Canadian government is specifically aware of the conclusion and professional opinion that Dave Walker was murdered. A representative of the Canadian embassy in Bangkok, Mélanie Lévesque, First Secretary (Management) and Consul Section was present during these formal preliminary conclusions on May 4, 2014. Also present were the official representatives of Dave Walker’s family, representatives of the Cambodian government and law enforcement, and the medical team from the Thai Ministry of Justice.
The family of Dave Walker and his colleagues and many friends demand that the government of Canada immediately publicly acknowledge the truth, of which they have the full, documented evidence in their possession, that Dave Walker was murdered.
All medical and law enforcement evidence strongly suggests–and none contradict–that Canadian journalist David Edward Walker was murdered. Canada, Cambodia, and the family and investigators of Walker’s death who are in possession of these facts know clearly that this is the professional medical determination of the team of scientific experts that conducted the forensic and medical examination and investigation.
The Canadian government, the Cambodian government, and the investigators representing Walker’s family are specifically aware of the facts and exact conclusions of these professional medical and forensic examination and its conclusions.
The conclusion that Dave Walker did “not die of natural causes”, and therefore someone was responsible for his death, were unambiguously the conclusion of the only two medical examinations conducted. Those examinations were the only ones conducted and were recognized by the government of Canada and Cambodia, and paid for and arranged by Walker’s family. There has, to date, been no autopsy.
On May 1, when Dave Walker’s body was discovered, investigators working on behalf of Dave Walker’s family on the ground in Cambodia arranged and ensured a qualified medical doctor arrived at the site of where his body was found within a few minutes of being informed of the discovery on May 1, 2014.
The scene had been secured by local Cambodian law enforcement and a proper medical examination commenced. That doctors professional recommendation was that a qualified forensic and pathology team be brought in to determine Walker’s cause and time and circumstances of death.
Immediately, Dave Walker’s family arranged for a team of forensic examiners from the Thai Ministry of Justice, which included 3 doctors and 4 forensic specialists, to be dispatched to the site of where Dave’s body was discovered, and they arrived in Siem Reap within a day. They were the ones who conducted the medical examination of Dave Walker’s body and a thorough and professional examination of the scene to determine the cause, circumstances, and times of Walker’s death.
The medical team which performed the formal medical examination and preliminary forensic investigation into Dave Walker’s death, an investigation recognized and witnessed by Canadian government representatives, the Cambodian government, representatives of Dave Walker’s family, and Cambodian law enforcement officials, specifically and unambiguously concluded that Dave Walker “did not die of natural causes.”
The Canadian government was present during these medical examinations and is fully aware of the facts. The Federal government is in possession of the documents which unambiguously show that all the evidence of the preliminary medical professional determination suggests that Walker was murdered.
In response, the Canadian government has chosen to pull every single official government representative from Cambodia, leaving Walker’s body unrefrigerated in a rural Cambodian medical facility and now under the authority of the Cambodian government who are falsely misrepresenting the conclusions of the professional medical and forensic examinations which unambiguously suggest that Walker was murdered.
The government of Canada knows that any statements to the contrary are false and have the information from the official medical reports in their possession that indisputably corroborate and document this conclusion. The fact is that, to date, no autopsy has been performed on Dave Walker.
The professional recommendation by the Thai expert medical pathology and forensic team on May 4th was that Dave Walker’s body be transported to Bangkok, where the most advanced technology is available, in order for a proper complete forensic examination to be conducted.
Cambodian government authorities specifically refused this request. The representative of the Canadian government was present and fully informed of this professional medical recommendation. The Canadian government chose to react by leaving Cambodia for the Canadian embassy in neighboring Thailand, and leaving the body of Canadian citizen Walker under the sole control of Cambodian authorities who are now publicly on the record making statements which can only be called a cover up in the murder of a Canadian citizen.
During the past three months since Dave Walker went missing, his family, colleagues, and friends across the globe have been deeply disturbed by the lack of any substantive response or action by the Canadian government regarding the murder of a Canadian citizen.
Dave Walker’s family has born the burden of conducting a private investigation into his disappearance for nearly 3 months. During these last three months, Dave Walker’s family and his many friends and journalistic colleagues have received no cooperation or assistance by or from the Canadian government.
It is well past time that the government of Canada begins a formal law enforcement investigation, using the full authority, resources, and technical capabilities of the Canadian government to demonstrate that the murder of a Canadian citizen is a matter of priority and concern
Dave Walker’s family, journalist colleagues, and many friends worldwide demand that the Canadian government immediately begin a formal criminal investigation into what the Canadian government now knows, unambiguously and without any dispute, was the death caused by murder of Walker, a Canadian citizen.
Dave Walker’s family demand the Canadian government cease collaborating with the official cover-up and interference in the murder investigation of a Canadian citizen.
If the government of Canada refuses immediately to refute publicly the official indisputably intentionally false statements of some Cambodian law enforcement and government officials that Dave died of natural causes as determined by autopsy, the government of Canada will knowingly be complicit in an official cover up of the murder of a Canadian citizen.
Dave Walker’s family demands that Canada immediately publicly declare that these statements are false.
If the Canadian government does not, Dave Walker’s family demands the Canadian government publicly release the documents and the information obtained during interviews with the medical professional forensic team and their unambiguous professional determinations and the recommendations of the expert team who conducted the examination to determine the cause and circumstances of Walker’s death to show otherwise.
If the Canadian government does not refute these false statements suggesting the cause of Walker’s death was a natural death caused by a heart attack concluded after an autopsy was performed, the family of Dave Walker will release the same documents and information of which the government of Canada is in possession.
A Canadian citizen has been murdered and it is unacceptable that there appears to be an effort to cover up the facts. All evidence to date suggests that the Canadian government does not think the murder of a Canadian citizen is a priority that merits significant attention or resources.
Again, here are some of the facts”
Dave did not die of natural causes. There is no evidence whatsoever that Dave Walker had a heart attack. To date, almost a week after his body was found, no autopsy has been performed on Dave Walker’s body. The facts of the professional medical forensic and pathology examination performed to date indisputably show that Dave Walker was murdered. Statements suggesting otherwise are false.
As of today, May 8th, there is not a single representative of the government of Canada in Cambodia. Further, there is not a single Canadian government official involved in any investigation of any sort into the murder of a Canadian citizen, journalist Dave Walker, abroad. Indeed, there has been no investigation by any Canadian authorities into the disappearance of Dave Walker since his disappearance February 14 until the May 1 now confirmed murder of Canadian citizen Dave Walker.
Even after the Cambodian authorities made indisputably false statements as to the cause and circumstances of Walker’s death, the Canadian government has remained silent while in full possession of both the knowledge and documented scientific evidence that statements contending Walker died of natural causes are blatant lies. A request for an autopsy to be done was specifically refused by Cambodian authorities, who were present during the recognized medical examination to determine the cause or the circumstances or responsibility of death. Touch Malai, deputy chief of the Siem Reap provincial technical and scientific police unit was quoted as saying “After the autopsy, our doctors concluded that the victim died as a result of a heart attack and that we did not see any injuries caused by someone or evidence of any kind found on the body that would point to this being a murder.”
These statements are false.
.Cambodian authorities rejected the formal request of the independent team of medical pathologists and forensic experts to allow the professional medical recommendation and request that an autopsy be conducted.
Two separate official preliminary expert conclusions of both the initial American doctor who examined Walker’s body and the Thai Ministry of Justice forensic team that was flown in from Bangkok were that Dave Walker was murdered.
They both independently recommended that a full examination and autopsy be conducted with proper equipment and technology, which is only available in Bangkok.
Prior to the arrival of the 8-person forensic and pathology medical team, an initial examination was performed by an American doctor who was the first on the scene who performed a medical examination to determine the cause and time and circumstances of Walker’s death.
He positively identified the body as Walker and his formal conclusion was that he could not confirm the cause or time of death and his professional recommendation was that a specialist team of pathologist and forensic medical experts be brought in to ensure a proper medical investigation.
In response, Dave Walker’s family retained and arranged an 8 member specialist forensic medical team from the Ministry of Justice of the Royal Thai Government to be immediately dispatched to take control of the medical investigation. Their official formal, written preliminary report included the conclusion that Walker “did not die of natural cause.” They recommended an autopsy be performed and that Dave’s body be transported to the nearest qualified medical facility to perform an autopsy and other pathology tests.
These conclusions were witnessed, understood by and transmitted clearly to the Canadian embassy who are fully aware of the complete details of the medical professional preliminary investigation, representatives of Dave Walker’s family who coordinated the selection and arrival and work of the team of medical experts, and representatives from several Cambodian law enforcement agencies who also were witness to the process.
The fact that the Canadian government has refused to acknowledge, and the government representative who was present at the findings and is aware of the professional assessments by the medical and forensic team that concluded that Dave did not die from natural causes, and that the uniformly agreed preliminary professional medical assessment is that Dave was murdered, is deeply distressing to Dave Walker’s family, friends, and many loved ones.
For the Canadian government to remain silent when they are in possession of the true facts when attempts are being made to suppress and cover up the true cause of Walker’s murder and identify those who were responsible for Walker’s death is scandalous.
Dave Walker’s family is extremely distressed that not a single Canadian government representative is even in the country of Cambodia as of today, May 8th, during this vitally important time. There is no investigation being conducted by Canada into the murder of one of its citizens. Indeed, the Canadian government has refused to receive vital information relevant to the investigation.
And Canada’s silence–while simultaneously publicly expressing full confidence in the Cambodian government–as Cambodian law enforcement officials make official public statements which are unmistakably and knowingly false, is unacceptable.
The Canadian government is now acting as an accomplice in the transparent cover up of the cause and circumstances of Walker’s death and, through its silence and impotence, interfering in the process of bringing those responsible for his murder to justice.
It was the professional recommendation of the highly qualified and competent forensic team of medical pathologists and 4 criminal forensic experts from the Ministry of Justice of the Royal Government of Thailand that an autopsy be performed. Their professional medical recommendation was that Dave Walker’s body be transported to Bangkok where those facilities are available.
The local facilities of the Cambodian province of Siem Reap do not have the technical capability to perform an autopsy. The medical team formally recommended an autopsy be carried out and recommended it be done in Bangkok and the Cambodian authorities have thus far refused to allow Dave’s family or the Canadian government to take possession of Walker’s body and allow that autopsy to be performed.
Representatives of Dave Walker’s family, the Thai Justice Ministry forensic medical team, and the Canadian embassy in Bangkok were present during this discussion and are specifically aware of these facts.
The Cambodian authorities who are in charge of the law enforcement investigation into Walker’s disappearance and death, including the Siem Reap provincial immigration police, have cooperated fully in attempting to ensure a proper investigation into the cause and timing of Dave’s death and have acted with professionalism after Dave’s body was secured. Dave Walker’s family recognizes the professional job performed thus far by the Siem Reap Immigration Police who have been in charge of the investigation into Dave Walker’s disappearance since February 14.
It is time that the Canadian government begins to do its duty as a government and relieve the family of the burden of this investigation. The Canadian government needs to take over law enforcement efforts to ensure that the murder of a Canadian citizen be properly investigated, free from political or other interference into an independent judicial process deserving of a nation founded on respect for the rule of law.
David Edward Walker was murdered. He deserves and will get the respect of the truth. Those responsible for his death will face justice. It is firmly the responsibility of the Canadian government to do what it has refused to do to date and ensure that Dave receives both the respect and justice he is entitled to as a Canadian citizen.
Tammy Madon
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
(Tammy Madon is Dave Walker’s official next of kin who was appointed by Dave Walker as executor of his estate and given power of attorney over his affairs and is recognized as such by the government of Canada)
Please respect the need of Dave Walkers family for privacy during this time. Other than direct cooperation with the Canadian authorities, she will have no further public comments until the appropriate time.
