Wednesday, March 02, 2011

Rights groups welcome order to free man jailed for unionist murder

Mar 2, 2011
DPA

Phnom Penh - Cambodian human rights groups welcomed the Supreme Court's order on Wednesday to release a man imprisoned for the 2004 murder of a prominent trade unionist.

Thach Saveth was sentenced in 2005 to 15 years for the killing of garment union factory head Ros Sovannareth. He had always protested his innocence.

The Supreme Court said Wednesday that the lower court must re-examine the conviction and ordered Thach Saveth's provisional release.

However, by late Wednesday, his paperwork had not been processed and he remained in prison.


The Cambodian Center for Human Rights said there had never been any credible evidence linking Thach Saveth to the crime.

Its president, Ou Virak, blamed 'at best' incompetence in the judiciary for the original verdict and at worst manipulation for political ends.

At his Supreme Court hearing last month, Thach Saveth said he had been visiting relatives on the other side of the country when the killing occurred.

'They charged me wrongly,' the Phnom Penh Post newspaper reported him as telling the court on February 9. 'I request the court to find justice for me because I did not commit the crime.'

Ros Sovannareth was a factory representative for the Free Trade Union of Workers in the Kingdom of Cambodia, which has long been aligned with the political opposition. He was shot dead in Phnom Penh months after the union's national head, Chea Vichea, was shot and killed at a newspaper stand in the capital.

The two men convicted of Chea Vichea's murder were released in 2009 pending a new investigation after five years in prison.

The judiciary has long been criticized as being a pawn for the ruling party.

The UN human rights envoy, Surya Subedi, said in June that some judges were not interested in upholding the law and noted the courts faced 'tremendous challenges in delivering justice for the people of the country, especially the poor and marginalized.'

3 comments:

ជនពាល said...

យូរទៅ គឺថាឡប់អាចម៍ក្សៀអស់ហើយ ពិតឬក្លែងក្លាយ គឺនៅលើមាត់មនុស្សទាំំងអស់់។
យើងគួតែនាំគ្នាសរសេរថា ប៉ុលពតគឺជាវិរបុរសខ្មែរ ជាអ្នកស្នេហាជាតិវិញម្ដង ​ល៎មើល តើពលរដ្ឋខ្មែរ នឹងមានប្រតិកម្មយ៉ាងណាណ៎ !

Anonymous said...

If the people in the whole world said,"Pol Pot was a Khmer people killing fields",Pol Pot could not become a Khmer hero;even Pol Pot was
a real Khmer hero.
Everyone in Cambodia Knew that Pol Pot regime wanted to get Khmer Krom back from Vietnam,but they could not make it.Pol Pot did not know strong Vietnam was.
There were few groups in Khmer civil war: Khmer Sihanouk,Khmer Rouge,Khmer Vietminh(born in 1929).
Khmer Vietminh were everywhere in Cambodia(some in B.bang ( Samlot
Pailin).All of three groups were fighting each other for power;All these were Vietnam trick to use Khmer kill Khmer what Viet govt used to kill Khmer Krom and Chams.

Anonymous said...

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