Union leader 'killers' to appeal

Sok Sam Oeun (L) and Born Samnang (R) during their arrest in 2004

ABC Radio,

Australia

Cambodia's Supreme Court in two weeks' time will hear the controversial case of two men accused of killing an outspoken union leader.

Chea Vichea was president of Cambodia's Free Trade Union, when he was gunned down in January 2004 at a sidewalk newstand. The FTU had been fighting for fair wages and better working conditions for Cambodia's garment workers. Under intense international pressure, Cambodian police arrested two men and got a confession from them. Born Samnang and Sok Sam Oeun were subsequently convicted and sent to jail. But did they commit the crime?

Presenter: Sen Lam
Speaker: Bradley Cox, director of the documentary 'Who killed Chea Vichea?'

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COX: Well there is way too many reasons to think that they are innocent and so far the Municipal Court and the Appeals Court have decided to ignore those reasons. And I guess what people are hoping is that when it does reach the Supreme Court, that they will for the first time look seriously at some of the evidence that shows that they are innocent.
LAM: So do you think the political climate might have changed somewhat for the authorities to allow the case to be heard in the supreme court?

COX: I don't know if it has changed and frankly I am not optimistic that it has enough that it would make a difference on the case. I mean a lot of people feel that the courts are not independent and so the political climate is very important in deciding whether these guys should be released or not, but in this particular case, I don't think enough has changed and whether they will get a fair hearing or not is really up for debate.

LAM: Are there any compelling factors that led observers, human rights groups to think that these two men were made the scapegoats?
COX: Well there is a plethora of factors that would suggest that the first and foremost being that the alleged shooter, Born Samnang was not even in Phnom Penh on the day of the murder, in fact he was about 60 kilometres away over a rough road that would take a minimum of two hours to even get to. So he was not even in the city on that day, but that didn't seem to bother the police too much. They arrested him anyway and so yeah, that's reason number one.

LAM: So, how did these two men get to be accused? I mean they must have been somehow linked to the victim?

COX: Actually, they are not linked to the victim at all and in the case of both of these guys, you can't even say they were in the wrong place at the wrong time. I mean they were like I said Born Samnang wasn't even in Phnom Penh. But if the police were looking for a scapegoat as they were obviously were, the names of these two guys had come up for different reasons to the police and so those are the guys they chose.

LAM: Well, certainly many NGO's and human rights groups in Cambodia are calling for a retrial. Do you think the case and the convictions had struck a cord in Cambodia amongst the locals?

COX: Well yeah, of course. I mean throughout the whole country I think, because Chea Vichea was in the best regard. I mean he was a man of the people, he was someone who defended the rights of the workers in a country like Cambodia, where if you stand up and try to speak out in a critical fashion, the government or the police, I mean that puts you in harms way.

LAM: And Bradley, you are making a film about this. Just briefly, tell us a bit more about your film?
COX: Well, it's a film that is going to be finished in the next few months and it's actually going to be shown on American National TV in 2009 and it's called "Who Killed Chea Vichea?" and it's about Chea Vichea and his work. It's about the murder and the arrest of Born Samnang and Sok Sam Oeun. A great deal of the movie is given towards, I dissect the case and did my own investigation to show that the two guys are innocent and that they were actually actively framed by the police.