CCHR Press Release_Preceding Yorm Bopha’s Appeal Hearing scheduled for 5 June 2013, CCHR Releases a Legal Analysis of her Charging and Sentencing

CCHR PRESS RELEASE - Phnom Penh, 2 June 2013

Preceding Yorm Bopha’s Appeal Hearing scheduled for 5 June 2013, CCHR Releases a Legal Analysis of her Charging and Sentencing by the Phnom Penh Court of First Instance

On 4 September 2012, housing rights activist from the Boeng Kak community in Phnom Penh, Yorm Bopha, was charged with intentional violence with aggravating circumstances under Article 218 of the Cambodian Criminal Code, in relation to a skirmish that had broken out near her house on 7 August 2012. Despite a stark lack of evidence to link Yorm Bopha to the alleged violence, she was found guilty and sentenced to three years in prison. Her husband, Lous Sakhorn, who was charged and tried alongside Yorm Bopha, was also found guilty but had his sentence fully suspended. The lack of sufficient evidence to warrant a conviction, Yorm Bopha’s work as an outspoken activist and a pattern of judicial harassment of Cambodian human rights defenders, have lead national and international human rights groups to believe that the case was politically motivated.

Preceding Yorm Bopha’s hearing at the Phnom Penh Court of Appeal, the Cambodian Center for Human Rights (“CCHR”) today releases a Legal Analysis of the Charging and Sentencing of Yorm Bopha at the Court of First Instance, which will be available at www.cchrcambodia.org and www.sithi.org.

This Legal Analysis: (1) provides a factual background to the arrest, charging and sentencing of Yorm Bopha as well as to the alleged offense; (2) conducts a step-by-step analysis of the charges and applies the law to the facts as they have been reported; (3) examines the judicial process both at the pre-trial and trial stages, and finds that the Defendant’s right to a fair trial was breached in numerous fundamental ways; (4) provides an overview of the fundamental human rights that have been compromised by the charges, namely the rights to freedom of expression and freedom of assembly (as well as the non-binding right to defend human rights); and (5) concludes that the sentencing of the Defendant represents a gross miscarriage of justice, and that all charges against her should therefore be dropped by the Court of Appeal.

CCHR President Ou Virak comments:

“Considering the lack of concrete evidence to link Yorm Bopha to this case, it is clear that her conviction was based on politics and not on fact or law. Prior to her arrest Yorm Bopha had become a visible spokesperson for her community and therefore it is no surprise that she was targeted in this way. The case against Yorm Bopha is also an example of a new trend – charging human rights defenders with offenses that are not directly related to their human rights work. I sincerely hope that the Court of Appeal does its job correctly, without outside influence, and drops all charges against Yorm Bopha, allowing her to return to her family immediately and unconditionally.”

For more information, please contact Ou Virak via telephone at +855 (0) 1240 4051 or e-mail at ouvirak@cchrcambodia.org or CCHR Consultant Orla Kelly via telephone at +855 (0) 6772 7025 or e-mail at orla.kelly@cchrcambodia.org.  

Please kindly find both the Press Release and the Legal Analysis attached in PDF format in Khmer and in English.

Kind Regards, 

CCHR