10-03-2009By Duong Sokha
Ka-set Former Phnom Penh municipal police commissioner Heng Pov appeared on Tuesday March 10th before the Phnom Penh Municipal Court as part of a case of complicity in the attempt of murder, with premeditation, of military police chief Sao Sokha, in December 2003. Five other former policemen and military police are targeted by Justice in this case, four of whom were present at the court hearing. The fifth one has escaped from the Prey Sar prison. The starting point to this dossier is an anonymous threat letter, which was sent to the top military police chief on December 22nd 2003 to inform him that a murder attempt was being prepared against him by a group of men supervised by Heng Pov. The verdict will be issued on Thursday March 12th. The former Phnom Penh commissioner, now aged 51 and prosecuted for several crimes, has already got, with the past six trials, a sentence which totals 58 years in prison.
No lawyer of his own choice, no testimony…After having questioned one after the other the four suspects who all denied their guilt and claimed they were innocent, Judge Iv Kimsry called Heng Pov to the bar. But the latter, dressed in blue pyjamas worn by prisoners, refused to answer the judge’s questions and rejected the assigned lawyer he was offered, called Nou Chantha. “I am happy that the Court is opening my trial but I ask Justice to respect the procedure of Defence. I am prevented from accessing my bank accounts to pay for my lawyer’s [Kao Soupha] fees. How can the court judge me when it is violating the procedure itself?”, the accused said, outraged, asking the judge to quote for him the law that forbids the defendant to choose his defender. The judge was unable to answer the former commissioner’s question.
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