Cambodia's Judiciary on Trial

General Ney Thol, the CPP judge, chief of Cambodia's military courts and ECCC judge. He sent opposition MP Cheam Channy to jail in a travesty of justice in 2005.

2009-04-09
Radio Free Asia

"Cambodia's national justice system falls far short of international standards of competence, independence, and impartiality." - Amnesty International

"Rich and powerful people and high-ranking officials harm the poor as they wish." - Tan Hong

Cambodians don't trust their own legal system, and corruption allegations in a high-profile Khmer Rouge trial don't help.

PHNOM PENH—As talks aimed at clamping down on alleged corruption at the Khmer Rouge war crimes tribunal failed to reach agreement, rights groups warned that a clean and independent judicial system remains a long way off for Cambodia.

More than one-quarter of Cambodian court defendants surveyed reported being tortured or coerced into confession and ordinary people lack faith in the justice system, according to an annual judicial review released last month by a Cambodian anti-corruption organization.

The Center for Social Development (CSD) reported that more than 25 percent of defendants appearing in court claimed to have been tortured or coerced into giving confessions.

The CSD, which receives funding from a number of donors including Germany and the United States, interviewed a wide range of judicial officials, witnesses, lawyers, and defendants between October 2006 and September 2007.

Judicial reform of the notoriously corrupt Cambodian system has been earmarked by donors to the aid-dependent country as a key factor in the country's development.

Poor training of the judiciary, bribery, torture, underfunding, a lack of independence, and frequent pre-trial detention of prisoners for terms exceeding the legal limit of six months are among problems cited by rights organizations.

"Not all the news is bad," U.S. ambassador to Cambodia Joseph Mussomeli said of the report.

But he added: "On balance ... there remains a good deal to be done before the people of the judicial system will earn the trust of the people of Cambodia."

Khmer Rouge trials

Talks between the United Nations and senior Cambodian officials over allegations of political interference and bribery surrounding the long-awaited trials of key former Khmer Rouge leaders for crimes against humanity meanwhile have failed to reach an accord.

This could jeopardize the future of the trials, which were aimed at bringing to book those who ordered the slaughter of up to 2 million people during the 1975-79 Khmer Rouge regime.

So far, the first Khmer Rouge trial has heard the regime's notorious prison chief Kaing Guek Eav, alias Duch, acknowledge responsibility for overseeing the torture and execution of more than 15,000 people at the notorious Tuol Sleng prison camp in Phnom Penh.

The corruption allegations sparked a confidential U.N. probe into claims Cambodian workers had been forced to pay for their jobs.

But court officials have rejected the allegations as"unspecific, unsourced, and unsubstantiated."

The U.S. branch of Amnesty International said in a statement:

"The hearing marks a first historic step towards holding to public account a few out of the thousands of persons responsible for crimes against humanity and other serious crimes under international law committed under Khmer Rouge rule and affecting millions of people, the legacy of which still lives on today."

But it warned that the Extraordinary Chambers set up to convene the trials still had to address challenges if it were to meet international standards of justice and satisfy the needs of victims and their families.

"Cambodia's national justice system falls far short of international standards of competence, independence, and impartiality," Amnesty said.

"This situation has contributed significantly to impunity in Cambodia, where the lack of rule of law perpetuates serious human rights violations in a number of areas, including the rights to adequate housing, freedom of expression, and [freedom of] assembly."
Vulnerable to corruption

Allegations of trumped-up charges and judicial corruption are commonplace throughout Cambodia, where low pay and barely trained legal staff are vulnerable to coercion or bribery from local officials, or to violence from the military.

Rights workers in the southern Cambodian province of Kampot lashed out recently at the detention of mother-of-three Tan You for several months after she was initially accused of human-trafficking by a wealthy local woman to whom she had refused to sell her land.

Tan Hong, older sister of Tan You of Kampong Bay village, said local courts had issued an arrest warrant without calling her sister for questioning in advance, with scant evidence against her.

"Rich and powerful people and high-ranking officials harm the poor as they wish," Tan Hong said.

"They can do whatever they want. The government should punish [the plaintiff] who has unreasonably accused a person and jailed her."

Plaintiff Aing Sophy accused Tan You of persuading her 15-year-old foster daughter to go to Phnom Penh for work, although the girl's employer said she found the job by herself.

Kampot Anti-Human Trafficking bureau director Chin Ov declined to comment on the arrest of Tan You.

His deputy, Uy Vong, who investigated the case, said he found no evidence beside what the girl and her mother said.

"After the investigation was conducted, we summoned [the accused]. When someone is summoned but they do not appear to explain, it is necessary that I have to file a primary report to prosecutor. My side has to wait for an order for further investigation," he said.

Violation of Cambodian law

Two civil rights groups operating in the province, LICADHO and ADHOC, said Tan You's detention violated Cambodian law, and of her basic human rights, however.

LICADHO investigator Yun Phally said that investigations showed no other evidence other than that given by the plaintiff and that information given by the alleged victim’s mother, Aing Sophy.

She added that the alleged victim's story was inconsistent.

"When the [alleged] victim does not speak right to the point, the mother either interrupts or speaks on her behalf," Yun Phally said.

Tan You was arrested Dec. 6, 2008 by Kampot province’s anti-trafficking police acting on the Kampot provincial court’s Warrant No. 282 dated Dec. 2, 2008.

She was charged with and convicted of "purposely guiding a minor," and sentenced to two years in prison. Her eldest daughter was handed a suspended one-year jail term.

Tan You has been in jail for four months, leaving behind three daughters.

The eldest, 17, has now gone into hiding for fear of arrest, and the other two, 7 and 10, are living in a deteriorating hut.

An Rasmey, second daughter of Tan You, described said the family had been dependent on the eldest daughter.

After her mother was arrested and put into jail, she and her sister stopped attending school regularly as sometimes they had to do laundry to earn money to buy basic foodstuffs.

Sometimes, she added, neighbors gave them rice to eat in their thatch-walled hut.

"Any day I have money, I go to school," An Rasmey said.

"When I haven’t, I don’t go to school. I request that the government help free my mother from jail. She hasn’t committed any crime. She is accused," she said.

Officials at the Kampot provincial court including court president Huon Many, court clerk Mann Moreth and prosecutor Chum Samban, declined to comment.

Original reporting by Zakariya Tin RFA's Khmer service. Translation by Chhin Oun. Additional translation by Yanny Hin. Khmer service director: Kem Sos. Executive producer: Susan Lavery. Written for the Web in English by Luisetta Mudie. Edited by Sarah Jackson-Han.

Khmer Rouge tribunal dogged by government interference: HRW

Wednesday, 07 January 2009
Written by Brendan Brady
The Phnom Penh Post

Rights group slams government for obstructing war crimes court, as celebrations to commemorate fall of Khmer Rouge begin

ON the eve of today's 30th anniversary of the fall of the Khmer Rouge, Human Rights Watch released a report condemning the progress of the United Nations-backed war crimes court and accusing the government of obstructing its procedures.

"After 30 years, no one had been tried, convicted or sentenced for the crimes of one of the bloodiest regimes of the 20th century," said Brian Adams, Asia director of the New York-based human rights watchdog group, in a statement released Tuesday.

"[For] the past decade Hun Sen had done his best to thwart justice," he added.

The comments came a day ahead of the celebrations organised by the ruling Cambodian People's Party to mark three decades since the day in 1979 when Vietnamese-led forces drove the Khmer Rouge out of the capital.

The statement called both the design and practices of the court "deeply flawed", especially by allowing for disproportionate involvement of the Cambodian judiciary, which, it noted, the UN has described as lacking independence, competence and professionalism. It also cited reports of rampant job-selling among the court's Cambodian staff.

Spread your wings

The rights group criticised the insistence of Cambodian Co-prosecutor Chea Leang on restricting the number of suspects investigated by the court to the five Khmer Rouge leaders currently detained.

In the first public announcement of her reasoning against the proposal of her international counterpart, Robert Petit, to expand the docket, Chea Leang said in a statement Monday that such a move would contradict the original mandate of the tribunal, overstretch its duration and budget, and undermine national stability and reconciliation.

But observers have said blocking the second set of prosecutions could exacerbate allegations that the co-prosecutor is acting at the behest of the Cambodian government.

Helen Jarvis, the international spokeswoman for the hybrid court, would not comment on the specific arguments made in the report, but said: "We take seriously comments from the public and any group, and we take what they say into account."

The report also said that "the impunity enjoyed by the Khmer Rouge has been matched" by successive regimes, citing the implication of Hun Sen's bodyguard unit in the 1997 grenade attack on an opposition political rally that yielded no response from the courts.

The puppet regime prepares to celebrate their master's invasion of Cambodia?

CPP Prepares for Contentious Anniversary

By Heng Reaksmey, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
06 January 2009

The Cambodian People’s Party will commemorate the 30thanniversary of the fall of the Khmer Rouge at a ceremony at Olympic Stadium Thursday, under criticism from Human Rights Watch and Cambodian political parties that justice remains elusive for Khmer Rouge leaders and a culture of impunity remains.

Government spokesman Khieu Kanharith said more than 10,000 people are expected to participate in the ceremony, which commemorates the day when forces of Vietnamese-backed groups ousted the Khmer Rouge from Phnom Penh.

Starting Wednesday morning, senior officials, guests and observers will gather at Olympic Stadium for speeches by key leaders and a procession inside the stadium of CPP officials and other supporters from Phnom Penh and the provinces.

The day is a “second birthday” for Cambodians, “so the people never forget, and they remember who liberated them from the Khmer Rouge,” he said.

The Khmer Rouge held power in Phnom Penh from April 17, 1975, until Jan. 7, 1979, during which time nearly 2 million people died under the regime.

The Jan. 7 celebration is always greeted with mixed feelings in Cambodia, however, because it also marked the beginning of a decade-long occupation by the Vietnamese, who left in 1989.

Human Rights Watch said in a statement Wednesday that 30 years after the Khmer Rouge fell, “Cambodia’s culture of impunity remains as strong as ever.”

The group’s Asia director, Brad Adams, said in a statement that more leaders of the regime should be brought to justice, following a statement by the Khmer Rouge tribunal’s Cambodian prosecutors that no more leaders should be charged.

Tribunal co-prosecutor Chea Leang wrote in a statement no further indictments should be pursued because of “Cambodia’s past instability and the continued need for national reconciliation,” among other reasons.

“No serious observer believes there is any threat to Cambodia’s stability if additional cases are filed against alleged Khmer Rouge killers,” Adams said.

UN Office Calls for 'Credible' Murder Probe

By Mean Veasna, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
17 July 2008

The UN human rights office called for a credible investigation into the shooting of an opposition journalist, noting that in the past such investigations have faltered.

The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights called on the government to "conduct a prompt, thorough and credible investigation" into the murder of Khim Sambor and his son, who were gunned down Friday night on a street in Phnom Penh.

The murder two weeks ahead of a national election, "irrespective of the motive," could revive in people's minds "the fear of politics," the UN office said.

Ministry of Interior spokesman Khieu Sopheak said Thursday the investigation was continuing, but no motive has been established.

"The investigation is not remaining in darkness," he said.

The UN rights office said in its statement Thursday a credible investigation was warranted "in the context of the continued impunity for past killings of journalists."

Friday's killing follows the murder or attempted murder of at least eight journalists since 1994, the rights office said, "all cases in which the perpetrators continue to enjoy impunity."

Human rights groups told reporters Thursday "the assassinations of reporters and other opposition political activists causes weakness of the general situation of peace and causes fear among voters."

No Court Action on Kidnap Suit: Officials

By Chiep Mony, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
30 June 2008

Click here to listen to the Khmer audio program

A court suit alleging the detention for ransom of villagers by local officials from the Ministry of Environment has seen little progress in the past week, officials said Monday.

Villagers claim Kratie provincial court officials have taken no action in a lawsuit they filed earlier this month, but the fault lies with the villagers and defendants alike, a court official said.

The court has summoned the villagers who filed the suit, as well as the defendants, but none has appeared, said court prosecutor Mork Phany.

Representatives of 54 families filed a lawsuit on June 20, alleging the kidnapping of six people and the destruction of nine houses. Villagers allege they paid between $200 to $500 per person to secure the release of the detainees, according to court documents.

Representatives of the 17 accused officials have denied the claims of kidnapping, saying the villagers live on protected forest land.

Villagers said Monday the Environment officials were still detaining people and demanding ransom.

Cambodia's dysfunctional democracy

Bodyguards of a powerful person were caught on camera grabbing and assaulting the driver of a truck who failed to stop in time to make way for the car of their boss to drive through a busy section of a national highway on the outskirts of Phnom Penh (Photo: Koh Santepheap newspaper)

March 26, 2008
By LAO MONG HAY
UPI Asia Online

Column: Rule by Fear

HONG KONG, China - Cambodia is bound to a set of obligations under the international agreements that were concluded in 1991 to end the war in the country. Cambodia has undertaken, among other things, to adopt democracy, to observe and respect human rights and to be governed by the rule of law.

The country's Constitution, which emanates from a U.N.-organized constituent election in 1993, incorporates all of its international obligations and provides for all basic institutions for a parliamentary democracy and the rule of law. It is a constitutional monarchy with a separation of powers. It has an independent and impartial judiciary whose duty is to protect the rights and freedoms of its citizens.

Cambodia has since then abandoned communism, embraced a market economy and become a more open society. However, communist legacies have stalled the creation of institutions for parliamentary democracy and the rule of law worthy of their names and their functioning. The government is not accountable to the National Assembly, for example, when the prime minister and other government ministers flout their constitutional duties and spurn the assembly's summons to answer its questions.

The government and, through it, the prime minister, currently Hun Sen, have effective control over all state institutions, including the king, the Constitutional Council, the National Assembly and the judiciary. Hun Sen's power is all the stronger when he has effective control of his ruling party, the Cambodian People's Party, a former communist party whose discipline has remained as strict as ever.

Party members are appointed to all positions of responsibility in all state institutions -- the army, the security forces, the civil service, the National Election Committee, and even the legal profession. Hun Sen and the CPP have the support of rich businessmen through cronyism, and he and other leading CPP members have built up strong personal relationships among themselves and rich businessmen through the marriages of their children or through business connections.

The dysfunctional institutions for parliamentary democracy and the rule of law, and the concomitant concentration of power, that have been created by this phenomenon have led to an abuse of power and position, corruption, inequality before the law and impunity for the rich and powerful.

Many crimes throughout the years, especially the notorious ones in which top officials are widely known to have been involved, have remained uninvestigated. Almost all such perpetrators have escaped punishment for their crimes. These notorious crimes include, for example, the killing and injuring of peaceful demonstrators in 1997, the killing of some 40 senior rival party members in a coup a few months later, the killing of a famous actress in 1999, labor union leaders in 2004 and 2007 and evictees in 2007 and the attempted murder of female singers in 2003 and 2007.

Many powerful and rich people have abused their power and position and are known to have been involved in land-grabbing, which is a major issue that has put at least 150,000 people at risk of being evicted, according to a survey. Hun Sen has publicly acknowledged that land-grabbers are officials of his ruling party and people in power. In recent years, land-grabbers have used members of the security forces to forcibly evict people from their homes and lands, beating them, destroying their properties and arresting them if they resist. According to one NGO, at least 5,585 families in 2007 were evicted, and nearly 150 people were arrested, one-third of whom are still in prison in 2008.

In February 2008, the Cambodia national police commissioner allegedly ordered the punishment of a police officer who refused to follow an order to cede his land to a senior government minister in a land dispute. This police officer was allegedly illegally arrested, tortured and denied medical treatment.

In the same month, the son of an advisor to a top leader of the country shot at a metal frame builder whose nephew had a brawl with that advisor's other son, but the bullet missed the builder. The builder's nephew was arrested, yet both of the advisor's sons were not. The advisor used his position to arrange with the police and the court for an out-of-court settlement and for the dropping of all charges against his sons, which is illegal under Cambodian law.

Earlier in January the bodyguards of a powerful person were caught on camera grabbing and assaulting the driver of a truck who failed to stop in time to make way for the car of their boss to drive through a busy section of a national highway on the outskirts of Phnom Penh. Yet no investigation has been reported, although the story with the photo of the assault has been published in a leading national newspaper.

Louis Antoine Léon de Saint-Just, a French revolutionary leader in the 18th century, said that France had too many laws but too few institutions and that despotism would not decline until there were more institutions. Cambodia seems to have sufficient laws and institutions to counter despotism, but law enforcement is defective due to defective institutions.

It is time for the Cambodian government to correct defects in law enforcement and the country's institutions. The Cambodian National Assembly, as the representative of the nation responsible for the formation of the government, should exercise its power to make this government accountable to it. The judiciary should uphold its independence and impartiality and protect the rights and freedoms of all Cambodian citizens. Its members should not be affiliated to any political party, as almost all of them are at the moment.

All other institutions, including the army, the security forces, the civil service, the National Election Committee and the legal profession, should uphold their political neutrality and their impartiality. Above all, the government and the ruling party should respect the independence, political neutrality and impartiality applicable to the country's institutions.
--
(Lao Mong Hay is currently a senior researcher at the Asian Human Rights Commission in Hong Kong. He was previously director of the Khmer Institute of Democracy in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, and a visiting professor at the University of Toronto in 2003. In 1997, he received an award from Human Rights Watch and the Nansen Medal in 2000 from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.)

High Court Hands Small Sum to Fired Leaders

By Chun Sakada, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
24 March 2008

Two union leaders are to receive small monetary compensation for unlawful firing by a Kampong Speu province factory, the Supreme Court ruled Monday.

The 8-year-old case of union leaders Lim Thida and Um Visal, fired from Cambodia Apparel Industry, was the first of its kind to reach the highest court, but the two leaders said after a hearing Monday the ruling could hurt the union structure within the factory.

The nine-judge panel of the court ordered $170 to Lim Thida and $150 Um Visal.

"The Supreme Court verdict has no justice and did not follow the labor law," Lim Thida said. "Because the dispute is not related to an individual or individual interests."

"If the Supreme Court does like this, it will destroy the union structure in the factory," she said.

The dispute stems from the firing of the two leaders by Cambodia Apparel Industry in 2000, in what workers say was a supression of the union. The firings of the Kampong Speu factory led to numerous strikes, demonstrations before the National Assembly, several clashes with police and at least three arrests.

"We are victims," Um Visal said Monday. "We need justice. We want the Supreme Court to provide justice to us, but the Supreme Court turned to provide us with regret, worry and concern about the effect to the trade union in the Cambodia Apparel Industry factory."

Son Chhay 'Versus' Sok An: The Battle of the Two Political Heavywieghts: Chhay Forced by Apsara Authority to Sell His Land

Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Editorial by Khmerization
Originally posted at http://khmerization.blogspot.com/

The forcing of MP Son Chhay to sell his land by the Apsara Authority is another example of land grabbing and it shows that land disputes and land corruption had reached the top of the Cambodian leadership. If an MP can be forced to sell his land at peanut price, what else do the poor and the powerless had to defend themselves against such actions.

The Apsara Authority, which is under the chairmanship of Sok An, Deputy Prime Minister of Cambodia, is infamous for confiscating people’s land in Siem Reap. Reports coming out from Siem Reap is that any valuable land around the vicinity of the Angkor areas owned by ordinary people were confiscated by the Apsara Authority using the pretext that the lands are government-owned which had been earmarked for future tourist developments. But the fact of the matter is that the lands are confiscated by Sok An himself and later sold to foreign investors to develop golf courses.

It is a principle and is essential that Son Chhay decided to bring the matter to public and international attention, that is challenging the matter in court. Son Chhay’s court case should be a test case and a fight for all victims of illegal and forced evictions which have taken place through out the country. The court case, though might not be successful because the court is controlled by Sok An himself, should be fought relentlessly, vigorously and publicly.

Sok An cannot be allowed to exercise his powers without checks and balances. His decision to award concessions to Sok Kong’s company to collect tourist fees to Angkor Wat had received criticisms many times before from MP Son Chhay. In fact the Angkor Wat concession is a front for Sok An to connive with Sok Kong in the embezzlement of state revenue. There are approximately 1.5 million tourists visiting Angkor Wat every years. The revenue collected from tourists entry to Angkor Wat is equivalent to $30-$40 million annually, using a $20 fee for each tourist for the calculation. Only 1.5 million dollars of that money was paid to the state treasury. The question is: where do the other $28-$38 million go to? It surely ended up in Sok Kong’s and Sok An’s and Hun Sen’s pockets.

This kind of back-door corruption must not be allowed to continue unquestioned. And Son Chhay’s persistence in pursuing this case has incurred the ire of Sok An which led his Apsara Authority to force Son Chhay to sell his land at peanut price.

Back to Son Chhay’s land dispute, Son Chhay’s court fight is a fight for all victims of land confiscations. It is a symbol of civil disobedience and a fight for basic justice. The case will attract international and media attention because recent forced evictions had attracted widespread public attention, especially from Amnesty International.

The Apsara Authority will use the pretext of development for its reasons for forced evictions and forced sales. But development must be proceeded with regard to human rights and with the aim of poverty reduction. Land owners should be compensated to the value of the market price and an alternative place should be established for their new settlements. Development with forced evictions and land confiscations without being adequately compensated will lead to increase in poverty.

But the fact of the matter is that Sok An and Hun Sen will never care about the welfare of his poor subjects. What matters and what they care is how to fill their pockets with dollars. And the forcing of Son Chhay to sell his land at peanut price is in fact a land confiscation in disguise. And Son Chhay must fight and fight vigorously to the end. That is my advice. Good luck.

Recent Events Underscore Our Loss of Dignity

Opinion by Muoy You
sent to The Cambodia Daily

Last week, three pieces of news and events made me reflect on the condition of our country.

A poor man knocked a powerful man unconscious with a steel pipe and rammed the man's car into the wall of his house. While nobody can condone such violence, it might be helpful to reflect on what caused this act of rage. We usually read about the poor robbing, attacking or killing other poor for money or grudge. The rich and powerful were up to then immune from such danger. Not any more, it seems.

When frustrations build, they lead to anger and rage. Fences, however tall, and barbed wire, however impressive, could not protect one that was the object of hatred.

In some countries, a king, a queen, a minister or a mayor can be seen in the streets, going on a bike or public transport, on their own, without body guards. They have nothing to fear from their people. Such a thing is unimaginable in Cambodia. Why? Is it status or fear or both? If it’s fear, why?

There can be only two reasons. A: they have too many enemies, or B: they have no faith in the police.

And what turns a man into an enemy? When he is not given a chance and when he is robbed of his hope and dignity. What is dignity? I was there in my reflection when a piece of news gave me the answer to the question.

It seems Cambodia is less poor now. Its GDP has increased, there are less people living under the poverty line. I was really happy with this good news until I read that the poverty line was $0.45 per day.

What can one do with $0.45 a day? Why don’t we all try to live with $0.45 for a day to see how it feels? I had the experience ten years ago, trying to live with, not $0.45 but $1 a day. It was ten years ago and I didn’t take the rent or transport into account, just food for just myself. I knew what it was like to count every cent before buying something, to choose always the cheapest, to pretend I was not hungry. Now in 2008, what can one do with 1800 riel a day? One cannot even have a car wash. But of course, the poor do not have cars to wash. Only their dignity is washed away.

In 1979, the Cambodian people were the most equal in the world—all of them had nothing. Twenty nine years later, the gap is Himalayan—some have millions of dollars and the crowd has $0.45 a day. How could this have happened?

Some say those poor are lazy or stupid otherwise they would have made it like the others. Either that—we are a nation of lazy and stupid people—or there is something wrong in the economic management of the country and the values that govern our lives. A car knocked a man down. The owner came out and went to check the damage done to his car before he noticed the man and told him off— so much for individual dignity. What about our dignity as a nation?

Muoy You
Phnom Penh

Ranariddh Party Calls for Murder Investigation

By Heng Reaksmey, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
02 January 2008

Officials from the Norodom Ranariddh Party on Wednesday called on the government to speed up its investigation into the alleged murder of a provincial activist.

Lun On, 41, was allegedly beaten to death by security personnel at a rubber plantation in Kampong Cham on the night of Dec. 30.

Human rights officials said he was killed for stealing rubber from the plantation, but NRP officials say he was taking rubber tree bark for cooking only.

There have been no arrests in the case so far.

Kompong Cham Police Chief Seng Sokim told VOA Khmer police had sent a report to the provincial court, and a decision was expected from the court.

"We have finished putting the case together," he said. "The case is under investigation."

Than Kim Hor, NRP acting secretary-general, said he did not believe the police had started an investigation.

"Even though the court has not indicted anyone, the police have the right to arrest and detain a suspect for up to 48 hours because a man died in this case," he said. "So this is a criminal case."

This was not the first time police failed to investigate the assault of an NRP activist, he said.

In March, a party activist was injured by a Cambodian People's Party district chief, and no one has been arrested so far, he said.

Land buyers in Cambodia: Beware!

Land Buyers Beware, Warns Rights Official

By Sok Khemara, VOA Khmer
Washington
31 December 2007

An expert on real estates says buyers should take precautions before buying a piece of land in Cambodia because of the weak law enforcement and the use of tricks by sellers.

"Fake documents, the court's unwillingness to implement the existing laws,and the greed of some local authorities make owning land in Cambodia unsafe," says Adhoc Land Unit Chief Latt Ky who is the guest on Hello VOA program on Monday.

Latt says he has closely monitored the land conflicts all over the country. He says only powerful and high-ranking officials in Cambodia can receive justice.

The ADHOC official compares the land problems to voter registration problem because people often come to Phnom Penh to ask for help from the National Assembly or from the government but they are often ignored.

Latt told VOA listeners that ADHOC has a branch in every provinces in Cambodia. He urges people to consult with his office before buying a piece of land to avoid future problems.

Millions in Aid Has Failed to Bring Justice, Rights Monitor Says

By Sok Khemara, VOA Khmer
Washington
10 December 2007

Fifteen years of aid money and millions of dollars have failed to bring a court system capable of providing justice to Cambodians, a leading rights leader said Monday.

Kek Galabru, who founded the prominent rights group Licadho, said Monday's International Rights Day march was good, but the overall view of Cambodia's progress was not promising. "What we want is not just the freedom for one day, today, but law," she said, for the future freedoms of assembly, protest and expression.

Licadho issued a report ahead of Rights Day, calling for real reform of the courts, which suffer allegations of corruption and politicization, and lead to impunity for criminal government officials.

Donors were not evaluating the right progress as they give millions of dollars in aid, Kek Galabru said, as a guest on "Hello VOA."

"Evaluation should not be based on training and court-building renovation, but actual daily work on legal procedures," she said.

In Kampong Speu, a Familiar Tale of Trafficking [... and corruption]

Suon Kanika, VOA Khmer
Original report from Kampong Speu
05 November 2007

SK was a young girl when a 30-year-old woman convinced her to travel out of her home province to look for work. But, after she'd lost her mother's jewelry as payment for the trip, SK was sold into Phnom Penh's sex trade.

SK, who asked that her name not be used, became part of Cambodia's vibrant sex industry, forced to take drugs and "perform services for guests" of a karaoke parlor.

She would take little pink pills and see up to four men each night and only escaped by jumping out a window and calling her father to come and get her.

Now 15, SK is safe at home in Kampong Speu, but her family is filing suit with provincial authorities to bring her abductors to justice and appealing to the government to do more to stop trafficking.

"I lived at that karaoke place for 26 days," SK told VOA Khmer recently. "I was miserable, and I was ashamed. I wanted to commit suicide.... I now think my life has no value, and no future. I think it is my bad karma."

Human trafficking in sex and labor continues to plague Cambodia. SK's story highlights an industry that new laws have so far been able to eradicate. Young girls from the provinces still fall prey to recruiters, who promise legitimate work to the naive and desperate and have little fear of the law.

"We have to solve the issue legally," Kek Galabru, founder of the rights group Licadho, told VOA Khmer. "The perpetrators will have to be charged. When the police, the courts arrest them and then free them, claiming lack of evidence, it is wrong. The perpetrators must be punished according to the law."

Many victims of sex trafficking report similar hopelessness, and they often blame themselves or feel their lives are irreparably damaged. But Kek Galabru said women like SK are victims and must be helped.

"We must not think she did something wrong or has bad karma," she said. "They did something illegal to her and violated her rights."

SK said the owner boasted to clients that she was "new," worth $50 per session.

"I have a request, especially to Prime Minister Hun Sen," SK's father said. "Please help us. If we go to the police, the police just take money and don't work for us. If we go to the court, the court just takes the money and doesn't work for us. When we ask, they say, 'tomorrow,' then 'the day after tomorrow.'"

This had left him feeling hopeless as well, the father said.

"The perpetrators are walking with their hands dangling, complacent, and not afraid at all," he said. "I would like justice for my child, who is a victim, to pay for her compensation and have them punished according to existing law."

SK's lawyer, Heng Poung, said he phoned Kampong Speu's deputy prosecutor, Ou Phat, who claimed charges have been filed with the provincial court.

He expected the sex traffickers to be brought before a judge, Heng Poung said.

The law on human trafficking now says that such perpetrators—anyone who coerces, tricks, or cajoles another person into the sex trade of other forced labor—can face up to 15 years in prison.

The Plastic Killers [- Born Samnang: "They can turn black to white"]

A documentary film by Bradley Cox

“The Plastic Killers” is a documentary which investigates the 2004 assassination of Cambodian union leader Chea Vichea and the framing of two innocent men, Born Samnang and Sok Sam Oeun, for the crime. The two remain in prison serving 20 year sentences for a crime they did not commit.

Watch Bradley Cox's documentary below:

Click To Play Part 1 of 4

Click To Play Part 2 of 4

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Click To Play Part 4 of 4