Phnom Penh Post
By Kim Sarom, Buth Reaksmey Kongkea and Abby Seiff
Born Samnang (C)
cries as he is led away by police after learning that he and another
man, Sok Sam Oeun, would be sent back to prison for the 2004 murder of
unionist Chea Vichea, outside the Appeal Court yesterday in Phnom Penh.
Photograph: Vireak Mai/Phnom Penh Post
Almost nine years after they were first arrested for the slaying of a
prominent unionist, Born Samnang and Sok Sam Oeun were remanded –
weeping and begging for help – to police custody yesterday after the
Appeal Cout upheld the 20-year sentence handed down in 2004 and ended
their provisional release ordered by the Supreme Court four years ago.
The men stand convicted of the murder of Free Trade Union president
Chea Vichea, who on January 22, 2004, was gunned down in broad daylight
during a rare outing from his home.
An outspoken activist, at times highly critical of the government,
Vichea was believed to have powerful enemies. But it was two unknown men
who were picked up by the police less than a week later and fingered
for the murder.
In spite of widespread and sustained outrage from rights groups,
workers, unions and embassies – who insisted the men were being forced
to take the fall for a political assassination – they were rapidly
booked, charged and convicted.
Released provisionally by the Supreme Court in early 2009, both men
assumed the reinvestigation ordered by judges would see them rapidly
exonerated. Instead, the politically sensitive case bounced back and
forth between the Appeal Court and Municipal Court for years.
When a hearing was finally held last month, it hewed to well-trod
territory, as defence lawyers continued to highlight the evidence in
their favour, including alibis for both men and the fact that the key
eyewitness said they were not the culprits.
But such arguments held little apparent weight with the judges.
Reading impassively from the verdict yesterday, Judge Chuon Sunleng said there was no doubt the two were guilty.
“The two suspects did not have enough proof to ask the court for
their release, because their answers had reversed from their previous
answers, and when the court compared their answers with police’s report,
they were conflicting,” said Kudge Sunleng, referring to a confession
made by Samnang shortly after his arrest and later retracted.
“And based on the police testimony, there was no forcing or beating
or violent acts undertaken by police during questioning, as the suspects
alleged.”
As the judge ran through the history of the case, Vichea’s brother,
Chea Mony, dropped his head in his hands and began choking back tears.
In the dock, hands clasped before them, Samnang and Sok Oeun stood stock
still.
“The Court of Appeal therefore decides to uphold the 2005 Phnom Penh
Municipal Court decision,” continued the judge. “We uphold the sentence
of Born Samnang and Sok Sam Oeun to 20 years each in prison, order them
to jointly pay 40 million riel [or $10,000] compensation for Chea
Vichea, and order their re-arrest.”
As he finished speaking, five police officers who had silently filed
into the courtroom at the start of the announcement, stepped forward to
escort the men to the prosecutor’s office ahead of their arrest.
Shocked into silence, Sam Oeun walked quietly ahead, while Samnang tried to fight off the police before dissolving into sobs.
“Why are you doing this?” he screamed. “Why?”
Few were not stunned
by the outcome. Presumably assuming the overturning of the original
decision was a foregone conclusion, only a handful of local media and
even fewer rights monitors were in attendance.
Unlike at the high-profile Boeung Kak case being tried across town,
not a single protester waited outside the court. After the verdict was
read, a rights worker had to scramble to bring Sok Oeun’s family to
court before he was taken to Prey Sar.
“I don’t understand,” Neng Sokhen, the wife of Sok Oeun told
reporters after arriving. “Just a day before the court’s verdict
announcement, my husband told me not to worry about him, that he would
be freed, because he is innocent and has not committed anything wrong.”
Clutching their baby daughter with one arm, Sokhen wiped back tears with the other.
“My husband is gentle, and a good man,” she said. “Without him, we have no one to depend on.”
As she spoke, Sok Oeun and Samnang emerged from the office in
handcuffs. A cordon of police pushed back Sokhen and reporters as they
led the weeping men to waiting vehicles. Both began screaming, appealing
to the prime minister and king for help.
“I am not a murderer. I am only the victim of false accusations,” shouted Sok Oeun.
Defence lawyers called the verdict absurd and said they would appeal.
The sentiment was echoed by the lawyer for the plaintiff, Vichea’s
wife, Chea Kimny, who received political asylum in Finland shortly after
the assassination.
“Even the [late] King Father said they were not the killers of Chea
Vichea,” pointed out Kimny’s lawyer, Kao Ty, referring to a 2005 letter
sent to the parents of both men in which former King Norodom Sihanouk
says the men were scapegoats sacrificed to cover for the real killers.
After the announcement, a distraught Mony said he would continue to
seek the real killers, and said he would not take “a cent” of the
court-ordered compensation, saying there was no doubt they had been
falsely convicted.
“I was very shocked to hear the verdict,” he added.
Rights workers who have been following the case for years were no less shaken.
“Just when I thought I’d seen it all, the CPP-controlled courts have
reached a new low,” said Brad Adams, executive director of Human Rights
Watch’s Asia Division.
“These poor guys are clearly innocent, yet their lives are being
ruined in a twisted game being played by Hun Sen and other powerful
people in Cambodia.”
Shiwei Ye, ASEAN representative at the International Federation for
Human Rights, called the outcome a quashing of hope following the
Supreme Court verdict.
“Instead of demonstrating a commitment to the highest legal standards
and exonerating the two men, the Appeals Court’s decision only adds
another layer to the endemic impunity in Cambodia,” he wrote in an
email.
“If the Cambodian authorities are unwilling or unable to initiate
without delay both a full and impartial investigation into Vichea’s
murder, and an independent and public inquiry into the handling of the
prosecution of Born Samnang and Sok Sam Oeun, it should invite an
international human rights or labour body to do so. Eight years are
already too long. Vichea’s real killers are still at large.”
Those with knowledge of the matter have suggested no less. Heng Pov,
disgraced former municipal police chief, told French newsmagazine
L’Express while on the lam in 2006 that the men had been framed for a
murder that was a government-orchestrated conspiracy.
Indeed, even for a case that was strung out for the better part of a
decade, it bore a staggering number of irregularities. A Municipal Court
judge who early on tried to drop the charges over insufficient evidence
was quickly removed from his post.
An appeal hearing was cancelled altogether and never rescheduled
after a judge claimed to have diarrhea. By the time the verdict was read
yesterday, the case had been sent to the Municipal Court three times
and heard at the Appeal Court four times.
“There was no new proof found in their re-investigation,” pointed out Licadho senior investigator Am Sam Ath.
“They should be freed as the Supreme Court had ruled for them.”
To contact the reporters on this story: Kim Sarom at
newsroom@phnompenhpost.com
Buth Reaksmey Kongkea at
reaksmeykongkea.buth@phnompenhpost.com
Abby Seiff at
abby.seiff@phnompenhpost.com
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