Tat Marina (born 21 October 1983) is a

Cambodia Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, spanning an area of , bordered by Thailand t ...

n survivor of a high-profile

acid throwing An acid attack, also called acid throwing, vitriol attack, or vitriolage, is a form of violent assault involving the act of throwing acid or a similarly corrosive substance onto the body of another "with the intention to disfigure, maim, tortu ...

attack in 1999. Tat Marina came into public attention when she was doused with acid at the age of 16 years in a jealousy attack, reportedly arranged by a wife of a high-ranking Cambodian

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a ...

official An official is someone who holds an office (function or mandate, regardless whether it carries an actual working space with it) in an organization or government and participates in the exercise of authority, (either their own or that of their ...

. The acid attack occurred in a broad daylight. No arrest of the

perpetrators In law enforcement jargon, a suspect is a known person accused or suspected of committing a crime. Police and reporters in the United States often use the word suspect as a jargon when referring to the perpetrator of the offense (perp in dated U ...

was made in the assault of Marina. Tat Marina is now married with two children and lives as a political refugee in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

Early life

Marina sold fruit shakes when she was 14 years old, growing up in poverty, in order to earn enough to pay for her father's medical fees and feed the rest of her family. She started spending some of her extra money going to small karaoke places to practice singing, in the hope of being a karaoke star. In 1998, Tat Marina was hired by a production company which produced karaoke videos. There, she was caught in a relationship with a married man who was known as a high-ranking government official. At the beginning, he lied to her that he was a Cambodian American doing business in

. Marina was feeding her 3-year-old niece in a downtown market in Phnom Penh when suddenly a few men pulled her to the ground and beat her unconscious. The woman known as a wife of a Cambodian high-ranking official poured five litres of

nitric acid Nitric acid is the inorganic compound with the formula . It is a highly corrosive mineral acid. The compound is colorless, but older samples tend to be yellow cast due to decomposition into oxides of nitrogen. Most commercially available nitri ...

. The attackers also scarred themselves with some acid during the attack. No arrest was or has been made in the assault. Marina's face was disfigured. She lost both her ears, half her hearing and her sense of smell. When giving the interview to the

Phnom Penh Post ''The Phnom Penh Post'' ( km, ភ្នំពេញប៉ុស្តិ៍, ) is a daily English-language newspaper published in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Founded in 1992 by publisher Michael Hayes and Kathleen O'Keefe, it is Cambodia's oldest En ...

, Marina said that she believed the woman was the wife of Svay Sitha, now head of the Council of Minister's Quick and Press Relation Unit. He reported his wife, Khoun Sophal, who was eventually charged with the crime but has so far evaded authorities. Marina collaborated with an American documentary maker, Skye Fitzgerald, on a video documentary about her, "''Finding Face''". In 2008, a

creative writing Creative writing is any writing that goes outside the bounds of normal professional, journalistic, academic, or technical forms of literature, typically identified by an emphasis on narrative craft, character development, and the use of literary ...

class at

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

have written and illustrated a

graphic novel A graphic novel is a long-form, fictional work of sequential art. The term ''graphic novel'' is often applied broadly, including fiction, non-fiction, and anthologized work, though this practice is highly contested by comic scholars and industry ...

titled "''Shake Girl''", partially based on Tat Marina's story.

After acid attack

She flew to

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

and the

for free medical surgery while assisted by her half-brother, Ta Sequndo, a Cambodian American medical assistant living in the United States. In 2010, her family members feared for their safety and later fled

. They are now residing in the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. Cambodia drafted a law restricting the sale of acid and outlining punishment for perpetrators of the attacks. The law was endorsed in late 2011.''Cambodia cracks down on acid attacks with new law'', AP news, 4 November 2011 article o
asiancorrespondent.com
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tat, Marina 1983 births Living people Cambodian artists Cambodian victims of crime 21st-century Cambodian artists Cambodian women artists 21st-century Cambodian women

Early life

After acid attack

See also

References