Tuesday, 13 November 2012
By May Titthara
Phnom Penh Post
Nine months after former Bavet town governor Chhouk Bandith allegedly
shot three garment workers during a protest, the Svay Rieng provincial
prosecutor has wrapped up his investigation, though a court date has not
yet been set, a court official said yesterday.
But the slow
progress, which has seen almost two months of prosecutorial inquiry
following months of examination by the investigating judge, has raised
eyebrows among court monitors and rights groups who have accused the
court of purposefully stalling to avoid trying a highly sensitive case.
Pich
Chhert, provincial court president who is also the investigating judge
on the case, said he received the prosecutor’s conclusion last week.
“This
case is being processed in the administrative registration. I don’t
know when [we] will schedule the date of the hearing, however, I will
clarify the conclusion made by the prosecutor later,” he said, declining
to elaborate further.
In mid-September, Chhert said his own investigation had wrapped up and he expected the case would go to trial within a week.
Charged
with causing “unintentional injury”, witnesses said they saw Bandith
shoot into the crowd during a violent protest calling for higher pay by
6,000 garment workers employed at four factories in the Manhattan Special Economic Zone.
It
took two months before the relatively light charges were filed, and
since then, the case has bounced back and forth between judge and
prosecutor, while Bandith has never once been arrested.
The
three victims have each asked for US$45,000 in compensation. Rights
groups said yesterday there was no question the latest development was
simply another stall tactic employed by a court too frightened to try
such a politically sensitive case.
“I can say that it is the
intention of the court trying to take no measurement in this case at
all,” said Am Sam Ath, senior investigating officer at Licadho.
“What
the court has done so far is to conceal its intention only and take
this case for granted, because it accused the defendant of only the
slightest and most minor of charges,” he said, adding that the court
officials likely found themselves in an uncomfortable position.
Moeun Tola, head of the labour program at the Cambodian Legal Education Centre, also called the “unintentional injury” charge evidence of an unwillingness to seek justice.
“We
can see a completely clear distinction between the Chhouk Bandith case,
in which he was not arrested after causing injuries, and the case of
Borei Keila and Boeung Kak community, in which they were jailed for
protesting,” he said.
For the victims, meanwhile, nine months
without visible movement in the case against their alleged attacker has
left them cynical.
Buot Chenda, 21, who was shot in the lung during the February incident, said she long ago gave up hope of a resolution.
“I
don’t think I will receive justice, because the powerful people are
always the winners in our country as clearly illustrated in this case of
mine,” she said.
To contact the reporter on this story: May Titthara at titthara.may@phnompenhpost.com
No comments:
Post a Comment