Appeal court arrested Born Sam Nang and Sok Sam Oeurn again

27 December 2012
by O.L.

On December 27, 2012, Mr. Chuon Sun Leng, trial panel president announced sentence to 20 year of imprisonment and 40 million riel of fine embroiling with murder of Free Trade Union Worker’s leader, Mr. Chea Vichea dated back on January 22, 2004 by gunshot man on a motorcycle while he was at a newspaper stand in Phnom Penh the west of Langka pagoda in Phnom Penh.

Born Samnang and Sok Sam Oeurn were arrested on January 29, 2004 by Phnom Penh criminal police led by former corruptive police commissioner Heng Pov ordered by general police commissioner Hok Lundy.

On March 19, 2004, Phnom Penh Municipal Investigating Judge Heng Thirit dismissed the case against the two men for lack of evidence after criminal police officer Hun Song found that the pair did not have connection with gunshot man named Chhit. Prosecutor appealed against Hing Thirirt’s decision to Appeal Court and to Supreme Council of Magistracy. After then Judge Hing Thirit was then removed from his position and later transferred to Stung Treng province on March 22, 2004. The Appeal Court presiding Judge, Thou Mony overturned Judge Heng Thirit's decision and ordered that the murder charges be reinstated. On August 1, 2005, Born Samnang and Sok Sam Oeun were convicted and sentenced to 20 years in jail by Judge Kong Seth in Phnom Penh Municipal Court. On April 12, 2005 appeal court announced verdict by Saly Threara, appeal court jury president.


On April 6, 2007, the Court of Appeal held a hearing in the murder case of Chea Vichea. The two accused men, Born Samnang, 25, and Sok Sam Oeun, 38, appeared before the Appeal Court. After cross-examining the two men and witnesses, the Appeal Court prosecutor Pan Kim Heng requested Judge Saly Theara to order a re-investigation into Chea Vichea's murder due to a serious procedural lapse caused by an incompetent police investigation. The Appeal Judge Saly Theara then delayed the sentencing until April 12 and announced that the final hearing would begin at 7:30 a.m. However, many suspected that the Court deliberately chose April 12 (the Khmer New Year) for sentencing in order to minimize adverse reaction to its verdict.

On December 31, 2008, Supreme Court president, Mr. Dith Munty decided on bail to Born Samnang and Sok Sam Oeurn and transferred dossiers to appeal court for more investigation. They were freed on January, 01, 2009 after five year in police custody.

Appeal court open trial of Chea Vichea case on November 7, 2012 and delay to announce verdict on November 26, 2012.

All these flaws expose how dysfunctional the Cambodian criminal justice system is at present. This breakdown has led to the conviction of the two men in question as a result of an unfair trial. It has also led to the impunity of a third person, named Chhit, who was alleged to be behind Chea Vichea's killing. But no investigation into Chhit's involvement has been conducted.

In his "confession" to the police, prosecutor and investigating judge, Born Samnang reportedly said that Sok Sam Oeun had asked him whether he would dare kill when a man had hired both of them to kill Chea Vichea. Sok told Born that the hirer, named Chhit, would pay the two of them the sum of US00 for the killing. US00 was to be paid up front, with the rest to be paid after the killing. Sok had added that Chhit had a score to settle with Chea Vichea. Both the police and the prosecutor were therefore informed of Chhit's involvement, but the police did not conduct any investigation, which they should have done as a matter of duty. Similarly, the prosecutor failed to exercise his authority and direct the police to so investigate.

In his investigation in February 2004, Hing Thirith, Investigating Judge, ordered Hun Song, the police investigator who had interrogated Born, to investigate Chhit's involvement. In reply, Hun Song said Born did not know Chhit, and that it was Sok who had relations with him. However, Hun Song added that, because Sok had denied his crime and also due to his relations with Chhit, it was 'difficult' for the police to investigate. The matter has been stuck there ever since. In January 2005, a year after that killing and five months before the first trial of the two men, Khieu Sopheak, spokesperson of the Ministry of Interior to which the Cambodian police is attached reportedly admitted that "after the arrest of the two suspects, it seems we lost track of who was behind the killing." At the trial of Born Samnang and Sok Sam Oeun before the lower court in August 2005, Chhit's involvement was only alluded to in passing, causing no concern to the court, the police or the prosecutor present there. At the appeal hearing, Chhit was not even mentioned.

Despite claims that investigations were difficult prior to the trial of the two men, notably as Sok, who was alleged to have known Chhit and received money for the killing, protested his innocence and did not cooperate, such investigations are vital and still need to be carried out. However, now that Sok has been 'convicted' and is serving a 20-year jail sentence, there does not seem to be any more reason for Sok to be uncooperative and hide Chhit's identity and involvement. Furthermore, there is another person who could help the police inquire into Chhit's involvement in the murder. That is Heng Pov, the former Phnom Penh police commissioner, who was in charge of the investigation into the murder and who is now himself in jail.

While fleeing the country, Heng Pov had told L'Express, a French weekly magazine, in August 2006, that he "was convinced that the two crimes were organized by the same people," referring in addition to the murder of a former member of Parliament in 2003. Heng Pov revealed that, "a few days after the murder" (of Chea Vichea), he had been summoned to see his superior, Hok Lundy, the national police commissioner, where he was told that "the killers have been identified and arrested. He further said that "during the questioning" of these men, he was summoned again to Hok Lundy's home "to pick up a gun which he affirmed to be the crime weapon" and which Hok Lundy claimed had been brought over to him by a police officer under the order of General Chay Synarith, and that it belonged to one of the suspects. Heng Pov added that, "it did not take me long to understand that the two suspects, Born Samnang and Sok Sam Oeun, had nothing to do with the murder."