Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Draft Prison Law Unclear, Rights Groups Say

Wednesday, 24 August 2011
Chun Sakada, VOA Khmer | Phnom Penh
“In our view, it states more about fines or punishment of prisoners, and in our view it states little about fines or punishment for prison officials.”
Cambodian rights groups say they are worried that a new draft law is not clear enough in its efforts to reform the prison system, which is plagued with mismanagement and overcrowding.

The Ministry of Interior drafted the law to improve how the system works, including education of prisoners and their rehabilitation and reintegration into society.

The draft law, which was approved by the Council of Ministers for parliamentary debate on Friday, contains 85 articles meant to reform the prison system, but it does not touch on military prisons.

Chan Saveth, head of monitoring for the rights group Adhoc, said a new law is needed, but one that meets international standards.


The current draft does not outline clear visitation privileges, punishments for prison guards and other officials who take bribes from prisoners who want better care, or definitions for torture or abuse of prisoners.

“We think there are some points we want to add, so that the prison draft law follows international standards and our constitution,” he said.

Am Sam Ath, chief investigator for the rights group Licadho, said some articles in the draft are not clear.

“In our view, it states more about fines or punishment of prisoners, and in our view it states little about fines or punishment for prison officials,” he said.

Phay Siphan, a spokesman for the Council of Ministers, said the law is meant to protect the rights of prisoners.

“The government is trying hard to make living in prison [a condition that includes] getting respect and better living,” he said.

A statement from the Council of Ministers said the law aims to ensure safety and humane conditions for prisoners.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Hi Everyone,

One of KI-Media member who has his name in Facebook as Khmer Sovannaphumi but his real name is Pang Sokhoeun, former political asylum and now living in Sweden. He always copies news from here to post in his facebook profile to promote himself, but right now, he tries to remove and blocked anyone who dares to reveal his con activity particular he tries to hide what he has cheated his wife (Sreypov Chea) by having a girlfriend (Sokunthear Sam) behind his wife back. Now, his girlfriend had run way from him after she knew his cheating.

A con man Pang Sokhoeun as well as KI-Media like to insult to the government officers who have affairs, but himself does even worse than other people. What a shame!

When one person had posted in KI-Media and accused that a con man Pang Sokhoeun is a brother of Som Ek (former Chief of Tiger's head sign guerilla, who was arrested and put in prison by Cambodian government) during that time, a cheater Pang Sokhoeun came to deny in his blogs immediately and had pointed the blame to Mr. Sourn Serey Rotha, but this time, he has bury his head in the sand because he cannot deny the truth that he has cheated his wife. Right now, all he can do is removed and blocked anyone who dared to reveal his cheating.