CCHR PRESS
RELEASE – Phnom Penh, 28 December 2012
Yesterday, 27 December 2012, the Court of Appeal confirmed that each
of Mr Born Samnang and Mr Sok Sam Oeun would serve out the remainder of their
20-year prison sentences – and pay a fine of 40 million riel in compensation to
be paid to the civil party, Mr Chea Mony, the victim’s brother – for the murder
of Mr Chea Vichea, President of the Free Trade Union of Workers of the Kingdom
of Cambodia on 22 January 2004. The
sentence followed a second hearing at the Court of Appeal on 7 November
2012. On 31 December 2008, after
the two men had served almost five years of their sentences, the Cambodian
Supreme Court decided to release them temporarily and returned the case file
back to the Court of Appeal to review any procedural errors. The two men – widely considered to
have been framed for the political murder – were originally arrested on 28
January 2004 and sentenced to 20 years’ imprisonment.
CCHR President Ou Virak comments:
“This verdict is
a joke, a travesty for these two men, and an insult to the memory of Chea
Vichea. It is also ridiculous that
this case is still dragging on, almost nine years later. What is the point in putting these two
poor men through the false dawn of an appeal hearing, only for the court to
slap them with the same original guilty verdict? With their watertight alibis, it has been clear since the
day of the murder that they are innocent.
Senior people involved with the murder investigation have even said that
the two men were framed. The
judiciary’s independence and credibility have sunk to new depths with this
verdict. It will now be impossible
to defend or trust the court system until something gives.”
For more information, please contact Ou Virak via
telephone at +855 (0) 1240 4051 or e-mail at ouvirak@cchrcambodia.org or Senior Consultant Robert Finch via
telephone at +855 (0) 7880 9960 or e-mail at robert.finch@cchrcambodia.org.
Please also find this Press Release attached in PDF format, in both Khmer and English.
Kind regards,
CCHR
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