Four Guilty, One Released in Deminer Killing

By Chun Sakada, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
14 October 2008

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Four former Khmer Rouge soldiers were sentenced up to 20 years in prison and one man was released Tuesday, following a murder trial for the death of a British deminer and his interpreter in 1996.

Christopher Howes and Hun Huoth were shot and killed in Anlong Veng following their abduction with other deminers from a site near Angkor Wat in March 1996.

Chiep Cheth, 33, was released Tuesday, when Phnom Penh Municipal Court announced a non-guilty verdict for his role in the killings. Chiep Cheth had said in his defense he had led a group of Khmer Rouge soldiers to the site where Howes and others were demining. Had he disobeyed, he said, he would have been killed.

The soldiers, who were under the command of notorious Khmer Rouge guerrilla Ta Mok, were found guilty Tuesday, following their one-day trial Oct. 3.

Khem Nguon, 58, a former commander in Anlong Veng, was sentenced to 20 years in prison, along with his subordinate, Loch Mao, 56, and his driver, Puth Lim, 57. Subordinate Sin Dorn, 52, was given 10 years in prison.

Put Lim, a former KR soldier sentenced to 20 years in prison for the killing of Christopher Howes and his translator

Put Lim, right, a former Khmer Rouge soldier, sits next to an unidentified woman outside the court room of Phnom Penh Municipal Court in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Tuesday, Oct. 14, 2008. Four former Khmer Rouge rebels, including Put Lim, were sentenced up to 20 years in prison Tuesday for their involvement in the murder of a British mine-clearing expert 12 years ago. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)
Put Lim, right, a former Khmer Rouge soldier, gets to his feet outside the court room of Phnom Penh Municipal Court in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Tuesday, Oct. 14, 2008. Four former Khmer Rouge rebels, including Put Lim, were sentenced up to 20 years in prison Tuesday for their involvement in the murder of a British mine-clearing expert 12 years ago. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)

Khmer Rouge trio get 20 years for killing Briton

Tue Oct 14, 2008

PHNOM PENH (Reuters) - A Cambodian court sentenced three former Khmer Rouge soldiers to 20 years in jail on Tuesday for the murder of British de-miner Christopher Howes and his translator in 1996.

The trio told the court last week they had received orders directly from Khmer Rouge "Brother Number One" Pol Pot to kill Howes due to Britain's support for the Phnom Penh government that came to power after U.N.-backed elections in 1993.

Howes was working for Mines Advisory Group (MAG), a British-based charity, when he and his Cambodian interpreter were captured near the northwestern town of Siem Reap before being taken to the Khmer Rouge stronghold of Anlong Veng along the Thai border.

He was shot in the head in March 1996 after receiving a final meal of fruit, which he ate on the floor by the light of car headlights, the court heard last week.

Another former Khmer Rouge soldier, Chheam Chit, 38, was released by the court after trial judge Iv Kimsry accepted that he had been forced at gunpoint to lead the rebels to the place where they could ambush Howes.

"If I had not led them, they would have killed me," Cheam Chit told the courtroom, which was packed with British diplomats and representatives of MAG.

The murder of Howes, who was working to clear up the millions of landmines and unexploded bombs left by decades of civil war, outraged many ordinary Cambodians. A road was named after him in the heart of Phnom Penh.

(Reporting by Ek Madra; Writing by Ed Cropley; Editing by Alex Richardson)