ACID LAW - Debate in Parliament 2 December 2011 - Part 1

Part 1

Opinion by SRP MP Mu Sochua

Finding Face - Crying for Justice

Tat Marina (Photo: The Phnom Penh Post)

Justice will not end just because a draft law is debated and adopted.

Impunity- as a culture in Cambodia runs deep and takes every single hope for justice.

Koun Sophal, the perpetrator who has maimed Tat Marina for life ten years ago, was sentenced to 1 year in jail with 5 years suspended sentence. This act of brutal torture has never been condemned because the perpetrator is part of the ruling party. She is hiding her face but she still lives in total freedom.

Tat Marina, like other victims of acid attack live every single day finding justice.

These are the 8 points proposed by Tat Marina to amend the draft.

None of these which points I brought up when I took the floor , was added to the draft.

Recommendations:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6bupCRxVJwM

1. In general, perpetrators should pay a greater price for their crimes. It seems that 5-10 years for crimes resulting in permanent disability is ridiculously low given the level of suffering and impairment and the fact that acid survivors live with permanent disfigurement for the rest of their lives long after potential sentences have been served. Given these factors, we feel prison sentences should be significantly longer.

2. Prior to sentencing, the perpetrator should be required to meet with the victim of the attack. This provides a safe, court-sanctioned forum for the survivor to address their attacker.

After the meeting, the survivor should have the right to make recommendations to the judge regarding the length of sentence to be handed down by the court. This recommendation should be carefully considered by the court (and would obviously fall within the sentencing guidelines allowed by law).

3. In addition to prison sentences, a mandatory parole system should be implemented for perpetrators of acid violence whereby perpetrators must serve as volunteer staff at CASC for a term of at least 5 years after being released from prison. This system would force perpetrators to fully confront the gravity of their crime even after they have spent time in prison and simultaneously ensure that they are supporting services that provide for acid violence survivors into the future.

4. It is crucial that perpetrators are financially responsible for providing permanently disabled survivors with a monthly survivors stipend if a survivor can't work for a living due to disability. This monthly stipend would exist through the parole period and would function on a sliding scale. If a perpetrator is deemed by the court as financially incapable of paying (and thus destitute) the government would become responsible for paying the monthly stipend - thus providing an additional incentive for the government to reduce and eventually eliminate acid violence in Cambodia.

5. We deem it critical to shift the stigma of acid violence from survivors to perpetrators. To shift public perception surrounding acid violence, perpetrators should be required (as part of their sentencing) to speak publicly (once released) on the topic of acid violence. These presentations would be held at public and private schools at the K-12 level both in rural and urban areas throughout Cambodia and at Universities. These talks would serve as both parole commitments for the perpetrators and as tools to shift public perception of acid violence in an attempt to shift blame and accountability where it rightly belongs - to the perpetrators of the attacks.

6. As CCHR recommends, it is important that both instigators and actual perpetrators are held responsible.

7. All trials and cases shall take place in a timely manner (within 3 months of the attack) in a courtroom open to both the public and the press.

8. I believe there should be an exceptional exclusion on the statute of limitations for acid violence in Cambodia, given the heinous nature of the crime.