The Associated Press
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia: A Cambodian appeals court on Thursday upheld guilty verdicts for two men serving 20-year jail sentences on charges of murdering a prominent labor leader despite witness accounts supporting their innocence.
Born Samnang, 25, and Sok Sam Oeun, 38, have maintained their innocence in the 2004 shooting death of Chea Vichea, who headed Cambodia's Free Trade Union of Workers. The slain man was an outspoken critic of government corruption and human rights abuses.
Cambodian and international human rights groups have campaigned for the two convicted men's freedom, saying Cambodian authorities have ignored evidence proving their innocence and made them scapegoats to conceal the real killer.
Despite the questions over the case, Saly Theara, an Appeals Court judge, ruled Thursday that the municipal court's decision was valid and upheld the 20-year sentences. He did not elaborate.
Va Sothy, the former owner of a newsstand where Chea Vichea was killed, has said in a statement that she saw a different man shoot the union activist. She fled from Cambodia, saying she feared for her life, and has since been settled in an unidentified third country.
She never testified at any of the court hearings.
As he was escorted by prison guards into the courtroom before the hearing, Sok Sam Oeun, with tears in his eyes, shouted that the current government was "no different from the Khmer Rouge regime" for jailing him.
The Khmer Rouge ruled Cambodia in 1975-79, during which about 1.7 million people died from execution, overwork, disease and malnutrition.
It was not clear whether the two men would appeal the ruling to the Supreme Court.
Born Samnang, 25, and Sok Sam Oeun, 38, have maintained their innocence in the 2004 shooting death of Chea Vichea, who headed Cambodia's Free Trade Union of Workers. The slain man was an outspoken critic of government corruption and human rights abuses.
Cambodian and international human rights groups have campaigned for the two convicted men's freedom, saying Cambodian authorities have ignored evidence proving their innocence and made them scapegoats to conceal the real killer.
Despite the questions over the case, Saly Theara, an Appeals Court judge, ruled Thursday that the municipal court's decision was valid and upheld the 20-year sentences. He did not elaborate.
Va Sothy, the former owner of a newsstand where Chea Vichea was killed, has said in a statement that she saw a different man shoot the union activist. She fled from Cambodia, saying she feared for her life, and has since been settled in an unidentified third country.
She never testified at any of the court hearings.
As he was escorted by prison guards into the courtroom before the hearing, Sok Sam Oeun, with tears in his eyes, shouted that the current government was "no different from the Khmer Rouge regime" for jailing him.
The Khmer Rouge ruled Cambodia in 1975-79, during which about 1.7 million people died from execution, overwork, disease and malnutrition.
It was not clear whether the two men would appeal the ruling to the Supreme Court.
6 comments:
Any suggestion that the ECCC is of any importance in view of this kind of ongoing travesty of justice can be dismissed. Sok Sam Oeun was absolutely correct. The current regime differs from the KR only in its ability to more carefully identify those who actually threaten its power. They are eliminated in the same way.
A lot of criminals everywhere has
maintained their innocent, but that
doesn't meant that all court have
to let them go.
One of the duty of our justice
department is to protect our law-
abiding citizens. If the court just
let the criminal lose just because
Ah gringoes Slaves said so. How
much faith will our citizens have
with our court to protect them?
Again, this is not the West.
While our court care about our
citizens, the west care about the
criminals. It is a lot easier for
criminals in the west to escape
proscecution and continue to pray
on their victim; but in Cambodia,
it will be harder for them to do
that, and that is the difference
between the two systems.
Very nice philosophy from 4:21PM.
quote (1)
"One of the duty of our justice department is to protect our law-abiding citizens."
The problem is how you identify the criminals or good citizens. Based on police points his finger any person, then that person will be automatically criminal? based on justice department documents say so?
(2) Quote from 4:21PM
"If the court just let the criminal lose just because
Ah gringoes Slaves said so. How much faith will our citizens have with our court to protect them?"
Will these two persons be released, regardless of what they did, if the HR groups said put them 100 years in prison?
May be you, 4:21PM, are right the our court wants to get faith from our citizens therefor, court just issued verdict against what human rights group said. The result of the verdict might be caused from the human right group's appeal letter. Let's try to appeal to supreme court, and then human right must keep quiet, then these two persons may be released. Then court will judge based on fact, not try to find excuse to go against human right groups any more.
Beoung Keng Kang
Phnom Penh,
Cambodia.
ki media:
TALKING ABOUT KANGOROOS... ANY NEW FROM YOUR OLD MONKEY SVA CRACHASTOON?
ASK HIM ABOUT KANGOROO BOXING AND MEAT!!!!
BETTER YOU BEG MR. KEM SOHKA FOR SOME POSITION?
SOONER OR LATER SPR VIRUS SYNDROM
WILL BE DESTROY BY HUMAN RIGHTS PARTY FOR INSIDE CAMBODIANS AND NOT FOR LOKOS GRINGOS...
Khmers and the victim's relatives will never know the real criminal. In this theatre of tragedy where everything are masked and designed to confuse and exploit uncritical players and spectators. Modis operandi is the same only operators names are different. The ex-vietminh were all very well trained to carry out Hanoi's policy and missions to overtake khmer nation and her country.
It is naive to keep wishing for justice and democracy to take root in Cambodia. There are two classes of people: the vietnamese/chinese and their khmer servants, and the real khmer people. All power is in the former group whose principal mission and purpose are to destroy and eradicate the latter.
It is like oil and water. Justice and democracy will never happen in such a place regardless of the efforts.
Justice and democracy can occur only if there is homogeneous society, i.e. khmers are khmers. Meaning everyone living and breathing on that soil pledge allegiance to upheld nationality, independance, sovereinty so on and so forth to khmer nation. The rulers in Cambodia today may be khmer by birth but all pledged alligiance to vietnam/chinese. So good things flow to their group. The real khmers will suffer and may eventually be rid off (just may be).
Polical parties are allowed as a means to legitimize the grand scheme of tricks for vietnam to peacefully swallow Cambodia and get rid of khmer race and culture once for all.
Yet, khmers through those political parties (SRP, NRP, and now Kem Sokha and others) seem to be unable to discern this.
There are 1/2 vietnamese and born to vietnamese parent in cambodia. They are not immigrants who would one day integrate into khmer society. On the contrary, they were and are there for the purpose of absorbing khmer and eradicating her identity. They are trained and hold strong and unwavering allegiance to vietnam. They will not become khmers, period.
So khmers who want to keep their identity, independance and territorial sovereignty have to prepare for a very tough fight and sacrifice. The alternative is to die as traitors to one's own conscience.
7:18, there are ways to get
prisonners release, and just having
an NGO or anyone with HR card,
title, or trade mark will not do
it. The court is no fool, not
to mention HR poor credibility
here. My God, what are you telling
us. Think about what you said,
mate.
As for supreme court, that is also
the west, not east. Because Western
justice system is primitive, they
must have a multiple appeal system
to make up for the high error
rates. On the contrary, when you
have a superior justice like
Cambodia, we can trial a case with
extreme reliability; thus, an
appeal is rarely necessary.
Appeal after appeal is very costly
for poor countries to hack. That is
why we can't follow the crappy
and inefficient Western system.
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