Original report from Washington
10 August 2009
Born Samnang and Sok Samoeun have each tearfully denied involvement in the murder for which they are blamed at every trial they’ve attended.
Facing 20-year prison sentences for the alleged killing of Chea Vichea, both are widely considered innocent, and in January, the Supreme Court ordered them released and has asked the Appeals Court to reexamine their case. But if it wasn’t them, then who was responsible for the death of the popular labor leader?
The question is asked but never answered in “Who Killed Chea Vichea?,” a new documentary from filmmaker Bradley Cox, screened in Rhode Island last week.
Cox’s first film, “The Plastic Killers,” examined the court case against Born Samnang and Sok Samoeun, and his new film investigates the murder beyond the suspects and puts more emphasis on the victim.
“I go into a lot of detail about the case of Chea Vichea and the death and the murder of Chea Vichea, but I also expand on the theme of the movie, to use it as an example of some of these problems [of corruption and impunity] that continue to plague Cambodia,” Cox said in an interview with VOA Khmer last week.
Rights groups have welcomed the film, claiming it sheds light on the innocence of the two men and the shortage of independence within the court system.
“Evidence in the video will show better that neither of the accused were Chea Vichea’s killers in 2004,” Om Samath, a rights investigator for Licadho who has been following the case, told VOA Khmer last week. “This is a good thing that will push the Appeals Court to seriously look into the case and hopefully be able to bring the real killer for prosecution and give justice to the victims.”
Chea Vichea, a former president of the Free Trade Union of Workers in the Kingdom of Cambodia, held wide influence over garment factory workers and was able to rally them in mass gatherings. He was gunned down in an assassination-style on the morning of Jan. 22, 2004, while reading a newspaper with friends at a newsstand near Wat Lanka.
Not long after, police arrested Born Samnang and Sok Samoeun. Both the Phnom Penh Municipal Court and the Appeals Court sentenced them to 20 years in prison.
“I am only telling the truth,” Sok Samoeun told VOA Khmer last week. “Once they charged me, I knew nothing of the killing. I didn’t know about the killing or who died. I knew nothing.”
Both men have been summoned to the Appeals Court later this month.
Lt. Gen. Khieu Sopheak, a spokesman for the Ministry of Interior, said the two are out on bail and no decision has been made in their case. He was surprised to learn the film had been released.
“Which one is the ‘Who’?” he asked, in reference to the title of the film. “Who did the film accuse?”
The film does not accuse anyone of the crime, but seeks to demonstrate that the two men accused of it could not have done it.
“What I’ve done is show conclusively who didn’t kill Chea Vichea,” Cox said. “It wasn’t Born Samnang and Sok Sameoun. I think any reasonable person can make their own conclusion. I don’t make a hard and fast conclusion as to who pulled the trigger. Personally, I don’t think we’ll ever know who really shot Chea Vichea on that day.”
The defendants, he said, do not have to prove in court who did the crime, he added, “just prove they didn’t do the killing themselves.”
Finding the killer, “that’s supposed to be the police’s job,” he said. And the more important question remains, knowing who was behind the decision to have Chea Vichea killed.
“Who Killed Chea Vichea?” includes interviews with police officers, judges, senior politicians in the ruling and opposition parties and rights and civic groups. It was filmed mainly in Cambodia, with other scenes in France, Holland, Thailand, Belgium and the US.
It will be shown on television in the US, as well as in Europe and Asia, but the filmmakers are not sure whether it will appear in Cambodia.
The recent screening, a little more than a week ahead of the Aug. 17 court day for Born Samnang and Sok Samoeun, was a coincidence, Cox said, and was unlikely to influence the court.
If the judge evaluates the case on its merits, “he would have to release Born Samnang and Sok Samoeun, because they are innocent,” Cox said. If there is political pressure, the two may not be released.
“Either way I don’t think my movie will have an effect on the judge,” he said.
Meanwhile, the biggest question remains unanswered.
“Chea Vichea’s killer is still far away,” said his brother, Chea Mony, who now heads the Free Trade Union. “We still don’t have a clue. We are still waiting for justice, and we have received not a single piece out of million.”
Facing 20-year prison sentences for the alleged killing of Chea Vichea, both are widely considered innocent, and in January, the Supreme Court ordered them released and has asked the Appeals Court to reexamine their case. But if it wasn’t them, then who was responsible for the death of the popular labor leader?
The question is asked but never answered in “Who Killed Chea Vichea?,” a new documentary from filmmaker Bradley Cox, screened in Rhode Island last week.
Cox’s first film, “The Plastic Killers,” examined the court case against Born Samnang and Sok Samoeun, and his new film investigates the murder beyond the suspects and puts more emphasis on the victim.
“I go into a lot of detail about the case of Chea Vichea and the death and the murder of Chea Vichea, but I also expand on the theme of the movie, to use it as an example of some of these problems [of corruption and impunity] that continue to plague Cambodia,” Cox said in an interview with VOA Khmer last week.
Rights groups have welcomed the film, claiming it sheds light on the innocence of the two men and the shortage of independence within the court system.
“Evidence in the video will show better that neither of the accused were Chea Vichea’s killers in 2004,” Om Samath, a rights investigator for Licadho who has been following the case, told VOA Khmer last week. “This is a good thing that will push the Appeals Court to seriously look into the case and hopefully be able to bring the real killer for prosecution and give justice to the victims.”
Chea Vichea, a former president of the Free Trade Union of Workers in the Kingdom of Cambodia, held wide influence over garment factory workers and was able to rally them in mass gatherings. He was gunned down in an assassination-style on the morning of Jan. 22, 2004, while reading a newspaper with friends at a newsstand near Wat Lanka.
Not long after, police arrested Born Samnang and Sok Samoeun. Both the Phnom Penh Municipal Court and the Appeals Court sentenced them to 20 years in prison.
“I am only telling the truth,” Sok Samoeun told VOA Khmer last week. “Once they charged me, I knew nothing of the killing. I didn’t know about the killing or who died. I knew nothing.”
Both men have been summoned to the Appeals Court later this month.
Lt. Gen. Khieu Sopheak, a spokesman for the Ministry of Interior, said the two are out on bail and no decision has been made in their case. He was surprised to learn the film had been released.
“Which one is the ‘Who’?” he asked, in reference to the title of the film. “Who did the film accuse?”
The film does not accuse anyone of the crime, but seeks to demonstrate that the two men accused of it could not have done it.
“What I’ve done is show conclusively who didn’t kill Chea Vichea,” Cox said. “It wasn’t Born Samnang and Sok Sameoun. I think any reasonable person can make their own conclusion. I don’t make a hard and fast conclusion as to who pulled the trigger. Personally, I don’t think we’ll ever know who really shot Chea Vichea on that day.”
The defendants, he said, do not have to prove in court who did the crime, he added, “just prove they didn’t do the killing themselves.”
Finding the killer, “that’s supposed to be the police’s job,” he said. And the more important question remains, knowing who was behind the decision to have Chea Vichea killed.
“Who Killed Chea Vichea?” includes interviews with police officers, judges, senior politicians in the ruling and opposition parties and rights and civic groups. It was filmed mainly in Cambodia, with other scenes in France, Holland, Thailand, Belgium and the US.
It will be shown on television in the US, as well as in Europe and Asia, but the filmmakers are not sure whether it will appear in Cambodia.
The recent screening, a little more than a week ahead of the Aug. 17 court day for Born Samnang and Sok Samoeun, was a coincidence, Cox said, and was unlikely to influence the court.
If the judge evaluates the case on its merits, “he would have to release Born Samnang and Sok Samoeun, because they are innocent,” Cox said. If there is political pressure, the two may not be released.
“Either way I don’t think my movie will have an effect on the judge,” he said.
Meanwhile, the biggest question remains unanswered.
“Chea Vichea’s killer is still far away,” said his brother, Chea Mony, who now heads the Free Trade Union. “We still don’t have a clue. We are still waiting for justice, and we have received not a single piece out of million.”
4 comments:
Democratic Kampuchea Pol Pot Khmer Rouge Regime had committed:
Tortures
Executions
Massacres
Atrocities
Crimes Against Humanity
Starvations
Overwork to Death
Slavery
Rapes
Human Abuses
Assault and Battery
Cambodian People's Party Hun Sen Khmer Rouge Regime had committed:
Assassinations
Assassinated Journalists
Assassinated Political Opponents
Assassinated Leader of the Free Trade Union
Attempted Assassinations on Chea Vichea and Sam Rainsy
Attempted Murders on Chea Vichea and Sam Rainsy
Executed members of FUNCINPEC Party
Murders members and activists of Sam Rainsy Party
Killings
Extrajudicial Execution
Grenade Attack
Terrorism
Drive by Shooting
Tortures
Intimidations
Death Threats
Threatening
Human Abductions
Human Rights Abuses
Human Trafficking
Drugs Trafficking
Under Age Child Sex
Corruptions
Bribery
Illegal Mass Evictions
Illegal Land Grabbing
Illegal Firearms
Illegal Logging
Illegal Deforestation
Illegally use of remote detonation on Sokha Helicopter, while Hok Lundy and others military official on board.
Illegally Sold State Properties
Illegally Remove Parliamentary Immunity of Parliament Members
Plunder National Resources
Acid Attacks
Turn Cambodia into a Lawless Country
Oppression
Injustice
Steal Votes
Bring Foreigners from Veitnam to vote in Cambodia for Cambodian People's Party.
Abuse the Court as a tools for CPP to send political opponents and journalists to jail.
Abuse of Power
Abuse the Laws
Abuse the National Election Committee
Abuse the National Assembly
Violate the Laws
Violate the Constitution
Violate the Paris Accords
Impunity
Under Cambodian People's Party Hun Sen Khmer Rouge Regime, no criminals that has been committed all of these crimes above within Hun Sen Khmer Rouge government have ever been brought to justice.
UNDER AGE CHILD SEX
Cambodian People's Party Hun Sen Khmer Rouge Regime had committed under age child sex.
Svay Sitha is a senior government official from Cambodian People's Party.
Svay Sitha had a sexual relationship with Tat Marina, she was only 16 years old.
Source: Human Rights Watch
ACID ATTACK ON TAT MARINA
Cambodian People's Party Hun Sen Khmer Rouge Regime had committed acid attack.
"On December 5, 1999, Tat Marina, age 16, was severely disfigured in an acid attack in Phnom Penh. The attack was allegedly committed by Khun Sophal, the wife of a senior government official, Svay Sitha, because she was angry her husband had a sexual relationship with Tat Marina. Neither Khun Sophal nor those suspected of being her accomplices in the attack were brought to justice. Intense media publicity compelled the Phnom Penh Municipal Court to issue an arrest warrant for Khun Sophal for attempted murder, but the police claimed that they could not locate her, although journalists reported that she was living at home as usual."
Source: Human Rights Watch
TORTURE AND MURDER ON PRAK SITHA WHILE IN CUSTODY BY MISNISTRY OF INTERIOR OFFICIAL
Cambodian People's Party Hun Sen Khmer Rouge Regime had committed torture and murder.
"On the night of January 16, 2003, a street youth named Prak Sitha was beaten to death at the Ministry of Interior (MOI) headquarters after he was arrested and detained by off-duty MOI officers on suspicion of theft. His body - bearing numerous injuries to the head, torso, arms, and legs - was dumped at a Phnom Penh pagoda the following morning by ministry officers, in violation of police regulations regarding deaths in custody. No criminal charges were filed in connection with this death. In December 2004, the case was cited by the UN secretary-general's special representative for human rights in Cambodia - who stated that Prak Sitha died at the ministry "following beatings by a known police officer" - as an example of a "consistent and continuing pattern of impunity" in Cambodia."
Source: Human Rights Watch
PUT SAMPHORS WAS SHOT DEAD BY MEAN SOKCHEA, A RCAF MAJOR WORKING IN BRIGADE 70.
Hun Sen's personal Bodyguards Unit (Brigade 70) is a terrorist organization.
Hing Bunheang is a March 30, 1997 Grenade Attack suspect identified by the FBI.
Cambodian People's Party Hun Sen Khmer Rouge Regime had committed murder, again.
"On September 4, 2008, Mean Sokchea, a RCAF major working in Brigade 70, shot dead 21-year-old waitress Put Samphors at a restaurant in Kandal province. Mean Sokchea, in a drunken stupor, fired his gun and apparently mistakenly hit Put Samphors in the stomach. She was taken to a hospital but later died of her wounds. Mean Sokchea was detained by the police overnight but was then released, allegedly after intervention by Hing Bun Heang. Put Samphor's family received US$2,700 from Mean Sokchea, and the police told them that their daughter was shot while authorities were chasing robbers."
Source: Human Rights Watch
Ah Khvang Ma Khack Hun Sen knew that.
It is ironic that not many Khmer went to see this documentary film, only a few (about 15). Whatever the reason may be,( lack of interest, carelessness, fear, misunderstanding, or else ), it is not good for Khmer to be apathetic.
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