First Thailand said it did not kill a Cambodian teenager, now they insist that they burnt him only after the teen was dead, can Thailand be trusted?

Thais say soldiers burned teen post-mortem

Tuesday, 29 September 2009
Thet Sambath
The Phnom Penh Post

Thai military officers have acknowledged their soldiers burned the body of a 16-year-old Cambodian boy suspected of illegal logging, but insist they only did so after he was dead, the deputy chief of the Thailand-Cambodia relations office at the Poipet border crossing said Monday.

Leu Chandara said the officers made the admission during a meeting last week, but Cambodian officials are not buying Thailand’s version of events. “We don’t believe them and we are going to conduct our own investigation,” he said. If the story were true, he added, it would raise questions about the soldiers’ motives for disposing of the body without first consulting the Cambodian government.

“They said they did not burn the teenager alive, but why did they dare to burn his body without informing Cambodian authorities?” he said. “What they are doing is trying to hide their bad actions.”

Officials in Oddar Meanchey province accused Thai officials of shooting Yon Rith and burning him alive on September 11, shortly after he was arrested and accused of illegally felling trees in Thai territory. Relatives claim he was lashed to an ox cart before soldiers set him alight. Marks on the cart prove he was alive at the time, they said.

Another Cambodian teenager, 18-year-old Mao Kleung, was also shot and severely wounded by Thai soldiers, but villagers managed to carry him to safety on Cambodian territory.

Like Leu Chandara, Yon Rith’s parents said the account from Thai military officials was dubious. “They are clearly just trying to hide the fact that their armed forces did a cruel thing,” said Nin Khom, Yon Rith’s mother.

Saing Yon, the father of the dead teenager, said: “I would request that the Cambodian government and international organisations find justice for my son and stop the Thai armed forces from committing cruel crimes against human beings in the future.”

Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesman Koy Kuong said he had instructed the Cambodian consulate in Thailand’s Sa Kaew province to investigate the case, but consulate officials were also busy with the case of 16 Cambodians accused of illegal logging along a disputed border area.

The group has been found guilty by a Thai court of illegal entry and destruction of forestry and has been sentenced to up to nine years in prison.

The Cambodian Foreign Ministry said last week it planned to appeal against the sentence.

Officials at the Thai embassy in Phnom Penh could not be reached for comment Monday.

Burned villager’s dad vows revenge

Tuesday, 15 September 2009
Thet Sambath
The Phnom Penh Post

THE father of a young man said to have been killed Friday by Thai troops near the border at Oddar Meanchey province said he has no doubts his son was deliberately burned to death and wishes for revenge against those responsible for the murder.

In a conversation with the Post on Monday, Saing Yon said he had visited the scene of the killing and was devastated by what he saw there.

“It is difficult for me to tell you in detail about my son’s suffering before he died because I saw my son’s body and it is very tragic,” said the father of 16-year-old Yon Rith, who was found dead after reportedly being arrested by Thai forces on Friday.

“They burned my son to death. I will remember this, and I want revenge on the Thai soldiers, but I won’t tell anyone what I will do to them.”

Saing Yon said that, judging from his son’s remains, he was lashed to an ox cart with ropes before being set alight by the soldiers. “I saw ropes holding his arm bones and the many footsteps he made at the site as he tried to escape from the flames,” he said.

He added that he planned to build a small Buddhist stupa at the site to commemorate his son and to mark what he termed the “cruel” deeds of those responsible.

“Please, other people, tell your children and relatives not to do anything along the border to avoid my son’s fate.”

Meanwhile, officials have vowed to get to the bottom of the incident, comparing the reported killing to the cruelties of Cambodia’s recent past.

“The Thais’ action was similar to the Khmer Rouge,” said Foreign Ministry spokesman Koy Kuong. “Their actions make them seem like wild and inhuman people.”

Koy Kuong said that government officials received a report of the incident from provincial authorities on Monday and would make a formal request for an explanation from the Thai government.

“We will send a diplomatic note to the Thais to get their explanation for burning the Cambodian man alive,” he said. “The ministry was very disturbed to get this report.”

Officials at the Thai Embassy in Phnom Penh could not be reached for comment on Monday.

Thai soldiers accused of burning alive teenage logger

Mon, 14 Sep 2009
DPA

Phnom Penh - A senior provincial official in Cambodia accused Thai soldiers of shooting a teenager engaged in illegal logging and then burning him, local media reported Monday. The district governor of Samrong district in Oddar Meanchey province in western Cambodia said 16-year-old Yon Rith was arrested by Thai soldiers for illegally felling trees in Thai territory.

Governor Thon Nol said another teenager was also shot and seriously injured by Thai soldiers, but was carried back to Cambodia by villagers and taken to a provincial hospital.

"We are looking for all measures to assist the victims as well as the actions of the Thai authorities," Thon Nol told the Phnom Penh Post newspaper.

He said Yon Rith's family had recovered the teenager's body and taken it back to their village for the funeral.

Another official in the provincial government condemned the killing.

"Why did they burn a person alive?" asked Pich Ratana. "[The armed forces] should have arrested them if they did anything wrong in Thailand."

The newspaper said the Thai embassy in Phnom Penh was not available to comment on the allegation.

There have been other incidents in recent weeks of Cambodians being arrested by the Thai military for logging illegally across the common border. Two Cambodian men were shot dead by Thai soldiers last month in an act the Thai military described as self-defence.