A woman pushes her bike in February 2008 along a railroad track in Pursat Province, where Top Chan Sereyvudth is the chief prosecutor. (Chor Sokunthea/Reuters)What prosecutor Top Chan Sereyvudth's true nature says about Cambodia's justice system.
August 1, 2009
By Joel Brinkley
GlobalPost
PURSAT, Cambodia — Top Chan Sereyvudth is a little man, maybe five foot four, with a bit of fuzz on his chin that some might mistake for a beard. When faced with questions about his problematic behavior, he takes several steps backward with a nervous look. His is the face of injustice in Cambodia.
Top is the chief prosecutor in Pursat Province, a government lawyer charged with bringing malefactors to justice. Well, through a bureaucratic sleight of hand, he managed to have a case transferred from Banteay Meanchey Province, on the other side of the nation, into his own courtroom. This case involved a dispute with four villagers over ownership of some land. These villagers were locked in argument with none other than Top Chan Sereyvudth, who stood to gain five acres for himself.
In his own courtroom, the prosecutor managed to dispatch the villagers to jail after the court offered a preliminary judgement in his favor. In Cambodia, where courts are plagued with graft and inequity, that would have been the end of it — if not for Chhay Sareth, governor of Pursat Province.
He had been out of town during the prosecutor’s escapade, but he heard about it when scores of the victims’ friends from Banteay Meanchey began raucous demonstrations in the center of town.
“I was just informed that there were angry people in the street,” the governor told me. “I was 100 kilometers away. The case was getting bigger and bigger. I thought, if we don’t stop it, Hun Sen will hear about it!” Hun Sen is Cambodia’s prime minister.
After hurrying home, he called in the protesters, heard their story and “ordered the police to assure their security.” A few days later, the case moved to trial. By now the governor’s concern was well known, and the trial judge, In Bopha, let the four men go. When I asked him why, he chose his words carefully.
“It was determined that the crime was committed in Banteay Meanchey province and was out of our jurisdiction. So I ordered it forwarded back to Banteay Meanchey under article 290 of our code.”
As all of this proceeded, Justice Minister Ang Vong Vattana grew angry. After all, he had approved the prosecutor’s request to transfer the case. Now, what was a governor doing messing around in his courts?
“The minister of justice asked me why I got involved in this,” the governor recalled. “I told him: ‘This problem came here from Banteay Meanchey, and when someone vomits on your leg, you have to react. So I got involved.’ I respect these people, even though they came from Banteay Meanchey. I did not know this case until they came here. The prosecutor brought this case here.”
All of that happened in February and March. I spoke to the governor in early July and asked him: After all of that, why is Top Chan Sereyvudth still chief prosecutor in Pursat Province?
“I wonder why the prosecutor, who was really involved in this case, why there is no punishment, no measure taken against him,” he said. “I still wonder why. If you want to know more, I suggest you talk to the minister of justice.” So I did. But not before Top Chan Sereyvudth showed his true nature one more time.
At the end of June, Lieut. Col. Ou Bunthan, a trafficker in endangered species, sent his employee, Leang Saroeun, to pick up a wild pangolin someone had captured. Leang did as told, but on the way back the animal escaped. The colonel was furious. He summoned Leang to his house, poured four liters of gasoline over him and then lit him.
Leang's wife, Laet Heang watched in horror as her husband, ablaze, “ran and jumped into a cistern” full of water, she told me. A few days later he died. Word of this got around, of course. A reporter asked Top Chan Sereyvudth about the incident, since it occurred in Pursat.
Top said he was awaiting a police report before considering the case. But then, without skipping a beat, he pronounced: “It is slanderous to say that Ou Bunthan burned Leang Saroeun."
A few days later I asked Justice Minister Ang Vong Vattana first about transferring the land case to Pursat. The minister answered with an imperial tone: “I have the right to transfer the case, and I did it.” But didn’t Top have a personal interest in the case? “People say he was involved, but nobody has shown me the proof.”
Okay, then, was it proper for Top to pronounce guilt in the Ou Buntham case — before he had even seen the police report?
For a moment, the minister simply glared with a pinched lip, narrow-eyed stare. Then he stood up and stormed out of the room, muttering, “you waste my time.”
Today, Top Chan Sereyvudth is still Pursat Province’s chief prosecutor. Today, as every day, justice in his court cannot be had.
August 1, 2009
By Joel Brinkley
GlobalPost
PURSAT, Cambodia — Top Chan Sereyvudth is a little man, maybe five foot four, with a bit of fuzz on his chin that some might mistake for a beard. When faced with questions about his problematic behavior, he takes several steps backward with a nervous look. His is the face of injustice in Cambodia.
Top is the chief prosecutor in Pursat Province, a government lawyer charged with bringing malefactors to justice. Well, through a bureaucratic sleight of hand, he managed to have a case transferred from Banteay Meanchey Province, on the other side of the nation, into his own courtroom. This case involved a dispute with four villagers over ownership of some land. These villagers were locked in argument with none other than Top Chan Sereyvudth, who stood to gain five acres for himself.
In his own courtroom, the prosecutor managed to dispatch the villagers to jail after the court offered a preliminary judgement in his favor. In Cambodia, where courts are plagued with graft and inequity, that would have been the end of it — if not for Chhay Sareth, governor of Pursat Province.
He had been out of town during the prosecutor’s escapade, but he heard about it when scores of the victims’ friends from Banteay Meanchey began raucous demonstrations in the center of town.
“I was just informed that there were angry people in the street,” the governor told me. “I was 100 kilometers away. The case was getting bigger and bigger. I thought, if we don’t stop it, Hun Sen will hear about it!” Hun Sen is Cambodia’s prime minister.
After hurrying home, he called in the protesters, heard their story and “ordered the police to assure their security.” A few days later, the case moved to trial. By now the governor’s concern was well known, and the trial judge, In Bopha, let the four men go. When I asked him why, he chose his words carefully.
“It was determined that the crime was committed in Banteay Meanchey province and was out of our jurisdiction. So I ordered it forwarded back to Banteay Meanchey under article 290 of our code.”
As all of this proceeded, Justice Minister Ang Vong Vattana grew angry. After all, he had approved the prosecutor’s request to transfer the case. Now, what was a governor doing messing around in his courts?
“The minister of justice asked me why I got involved in this,” the governor recalled. “I told him: ‘This problem came here from Banteay Meanchey, and when someone vomits on your leg, you have to react. So I got involved.’ I respect these people, even though they came from Banteay Meanchey. I did not know this case until they came here. The prosecutor brought this case here.”
All of that happened in February and March. I spoke to the governor in early July and asked him: After all of that, why is Top Chan Sereyvudth still chief prosecutor in Pursat Province?
“I wonder why the prosecutor, who was really involved in this case, why there is no punishment, no measure taken against him,” he said. “I still wonder why. If you want to know more, I suggest you talk to the minister of justice.” So I did. But not before Top Chan Sereyvudth showed his true nature one more time.
At the end of June, Lieut. Col. Ou Bunthan, a trafficker in endangered species, sent his employee, Leang Saroeun, to pick up a wild pangolin someone had captured. Leang did as told, but on the way back the animal escaped. The colonel was furious. He summoned Leang to his house, poured four liters of gasoline over him and then lit him.
Leang's wife, Laet Heang watched in horror as her husband, ablaze, “ran and jumped into a cistern” full of water, she told me. A few days later he died. Word of this got around, of course. A reporter asked Top Chan Sereyvudth about the incident, since it occurred in Pursat.
Top said he was awaiting a police report before considering the case. But then, without skipping a beat, he pronounced: “It is slanderous to say that Ou Bunthan burned Leang Saroeun."
A few days later I asked Justice Minister Ang Vong Vattana first about transferring the land case to Pursat. The minister answered with an imperial tone: “I have the right to transfer the case, and I did it.” But didn’t Top have a personal interest in the case? “People say he was involved, but nobody has shown me the proof.”
Okay, then, was it proper for Top to pronounce guilt in the Ou Buntham case — before he had even seen the police report?
For a moment, the minister simply glared with a pinched lip, narrow-eyed stare. Then he stood up and stormed out of the room, muttering, “you waste my time.”
Today, Top Chan Sereyvudth is still Pursat Province’s chief prosecutor. Today, as every day, justice in his court cannot be had.
16 comments:
Cambodia Town
Long Beach, Ca
Samdech Deycho Hun Sen should take the appropriet step toward the justice department.
New Phally
Wow!
What can I say about this horrible injustice happening daily in a broad daylight in Cambodia?
I am just totally appalled and completely speechless and also feel definitely hopeless about Cambodia, my beloved country.
Poverty is one thing and takes time to alleviate, but this kind of injustice shouldn't be allowed to continue.
It seems like you can't just blame Prime Minister Hun Sen for all of these injustices. The Cambodian so-called intellectuals are also at the root of the problems.
Education is about going to school to learn and then come back to help the poorer and less fortunate people in your society. It is not about coming back to rule over them as if they were your slaves!
Cambodia as a society has a long way to go.
Thank you Mr. Joel Brinkley and KI Media for this story.
Anet Khmer
New Phally, why to you mention this nonsense about Hun Sen? He's the most corrupted of all the CPP. How can he clean up his own people? There's no justice in Cambodia when it comes to anything related to the CPP people interests. Hun Sen insulted Mrs. Mu in public and then he sued the same woman that he insulted for defamation. If you're a smart person, you shouldn't mention Hun Sen when you talk about justice in Cambodia.
Have a nice day!
The Wild, Wild West of South East Asia...No sense of justice, not an an ounce of shame or conscience...and people wonder why the evil Khmer Rouge was possible...
Cambodia Town
Long Beach , Ca
To : 9:19
I request two months ago to reform justice system, actually
the minister of justice did it, check at the Khmerization webtsite.
We should have 12 juries system to make people guilty or innosence.
New Phally
Secretary of State for Ministry of Interior and Adviser for Vice President National Assembly
New Phally , what make you think that CPP will waste their time to take a look at your request ?
Who is that New Phally ? Is she the one who has been sent there by the Government of Cambodia to study ? She is in Long Beach but her job is in Cambodia . It doesn't match and it doesn't make sense either .
It sounds like Ang Vong Vattana is the king of justice. This proves that many ministers abuses public trust and public power.
Has this minister got his or her office at home?
Samdech Hun Sen has perhaps one of too many abusive minister in his govt.
This is where the king let cambodian security astrayed.
neang SA
Pursat is a colonial French name given to the town. We should use our Khmer name for the town, that is POTHISAT.
Cambodia Town
Long Beach, Ca
To: 6:46
The Minister of Justice, Judges, Prosecutors had to much jurisdiction on theirs duties; for that reasons, we must eliminate some of it by selecting 12 jurors system in the court during a criminal case, to find a beyond reasonabble doubt on the defendants guilty or innocense.
New Phally
1:21AM
What I was concerned about is moving the case to Pursat,while it was correctly dealt with at Bantay Meanchey.
Is there any money(bribery) offered to minister(injustice minister)? any share of the land when the case successfully moved?
Any personal preference? less likely!!!.
Indeed 12 juors system is better, but depends on how it is structured. monopolising is the name of the game where it applied predominently in NOT in politics but political games.
Restructuring requires best objectives with good intention, guided by human rights perspectives and guarded by code of conducts(ETHICS-can be derived by western principles or Buddhist values as appropriate).
Ongoing enforcement/training are also valued.
If change needs to be made,it has to start from the top down where appropriate human resources required. Can you perhaps enlighten cambodians more for your vision, New Phally?
Neang SA
Cambodian super high tech rail roads...
Cambodia Town
Long Beach, Ca
To: 4:57AM
There were severals reasons for the Prosecutor Top to handle the case in Pursat, under his jurisdiction, he must get some money,or part of the land, the judges, prosecutors never work for free; even thought, they earned salaries from the government, they lived in luxuriuos lifes with a nice home, cars. Furthermore, the minister of justice should not ask his majesty King Norodom Sihamoni to increase theirs salaries. We should provide assistance to our soldiers at Preah Vihear Temple area than the judges,prosecutors.
I can request the local cops to investicate on the judges or prosecutors, they will provide me an accurate information.
New Phally
Holy Shit! This is the worst railroad track in the world.
When there is no justice in Cambodia and there is no good railroad track.The CPP members do not need the train to go the brothels.
Hahaha! CeeCeePee will has to get on that solar panel car piece of craps...in-order to get lay!
CPP (Collected People Profit)
PPU (Politic Pimping Union)
Post a Comment