CCHR Issues Report On September Attack By Thai Military On Cambodian Loggers

CCHR's Report: "Oddar Meanchey, Kingdom of Cambodia - Legal Analysis of the Events of 11 September 2009 that resulted in the Death of Yon Rith and Severe Injury to Mao Kleung" is also available in PDF format by clicking here. Due to the graphic nature of the photos included in this report, readers' discretion is advised - KI-Media

Cambodian Center for Human Rights

PRESS RELEASE
Phnom Penh, 26 October 2009

CCHR ISSUES REPORT ON SEPTEMBER ATTACK BY THAI MILITARY ON CAMBODIAN LOGGERS

The Cambodian Center for Human Rights (CCHR) today expresses its concern towards the ongoing mistreatment of the logging communities on the Thai- Cambodia border by Thai military, and specifically the recent events of 11 September 2009 that resulted in the tragic death of 16-year-old Yon Rith. Following an investigation into these events the CCHR issues an independent report titled Oddar Meanchey, Kingdom of Cambodia - Legal Analysis of the Events of 11 September 2009 that resulted in the Death of Yon Rith and Severe Injury to Mao Kleung. The story published in the Phnom Penh Post regarding the alleged killing by Thai military of Sim Bun Chen on Wednesday 21 October 2009 established that the murder of Yon Rith was not an isolated incident, rather, it is indicative of the pervasive mistreatment of Cambodian loggers operating on the Thai-Cambodia border. The CCHR commends the restraint shown by the Royal Government of Cambodia (RGC) in its reaction to the killing of Yon Rith but beseeches it to follow the recommendations in our report in order to establish a precedent whereby these kind of actions on the part of the Thai military are not tolerated.

Following our independent investigation and assessment of the events of 11 September 2009, the CCHR concludes that it is extremely likely that Yon Rith was burnt alive by Thai military who have committed several breaches of international human rights law and principles as a result. The findings of our investigations as well as our recommendations are contained within our report which we today submit to the RGC for its urgent consideration regarding violations by the Kingdom of Thailand and its soldiers of Cambodian, Thai and international law. The Report is not intended to be a conclusive examination of the events leading to the death of Yon Rith rather it is starting point for further investigations into and analysis of those events by a bilateral, regional or international body. The Report is not confidential and will be made publicly available through our website - www.cchrcambodia.org.

The ongoing behaviour of Thai military on the roughly demarcated and highly contested Thai-Cambodian border are of serious concern to the CCHR. Thai investigations into the events of 11 September 2009 have inadequate and half-hearted. Moreover, the Thai Government continues to use Preah Vihear as the focal point of the nationalist fervour that brought it to power. The CCHR calls for an end to Thai military mistreatment of and attacks against Cambodian citizens and implores the RGC to follow the recommendations of our report so as to ensure justice for Yon Rith and his family and to guarantee that Cambodians living on the Thai border need no longer live in constant fear of their neighbours.

For more information, please contact:

Mr. Ou Virak, President, CCHR
Tel: +855 12 404051
email: ouvirak@cchrcambodia.org

Thais deny burning teenager

Nin Khuom, 52, prepares food for the spirit of her dead son, who was reportedly burned alive by Thai soldiers. Inset: A family photo. (Photo by: Robbie Corey-Boulet)

Monday, 19 October 2009
Thet Sambath and May Titthara
The Phnom Penh Post

"His foot is still at the scene of the attack because I am afraid [to go back]....”

Cambodian parents describe efforts to cope with their 16-year-old son’s death.

Oddar Meanchey Province

THE Thai embassy in Phnom Penh has rejected a report finding that a Cambodian teenager from Oddar Meanchey province was shot and burned alive by Thai soldiers last month, condemning it as provocative and not rooted in evidence.

“I oppose this accusation that Thai soldiers burned the Cambodian teenager alive and killed him,” Thai embassy First Secretary Kamrob Palawatwichai said in the embassy’s first public response to the charges. “It is not true at all, and the Thais are not happy with this report. It makes us look fierce.”

He added that the embassy would launch its own investigation into the incident, which has triggered outrage and condemnation from senior government officials this side of the border.

Meanwhile, the parents of 16-year-old Yon Rith stood by their original version of events when reached by phone Sunday, adding that they had not yet heard from local officials about how the dispute would be resolved and whether they would receive compensation.

In an interview last week at the family’s home in Kroch Sakhorn village, located in Samrong district’s Kon Kreal commune, Saing Yon, the boy’s father, said he was afraid to return to the illegal logging site, adding that he did not know how he would support his family without money earned from selling wood.

Nin Khuom, Yon Rith’s 52-year-old mother, said that despite her husband’s fears, she wanted to bring food to the spirit of her dead son and to retrieve his ashes. During a visit to the site shortly after the September 11 killing, she said, the family retrieved only the top half of his body, which was not burned, and held a funeral ceremony for him near their home.

“I took only half of my son’s body then to celebrate the ceremony for him,” she said. “His foot is still at the scene of the attack because I am afraid that the Thai soldiers will come and arrest us if we go back.”

Kang Mao, a 39-year-old neighbour who was with the illegal logging group when it was attacked, said Yon Rith had just sat down to lunch when the shooting began.

The Thai government has said that his body was burned only after he died of gunshot wounds, but Kang Mao said he believed the boy was burned alive.

Saing Yon said the ill-fated excursion, in which another teenager was also shot and seriously injured, had been his son’s first across the Thai border.

“He was too young. He didn’t know any better,” he said.

Harsh punishment

Though he acknowledged that the villagers had been logging illegally, he said they were not able to make as much money cutting down Cambodian trees.

“The reason that people cross to that area is because there is the best-quality wood there,” he said.

He and Kang Mao both said the soldiers should have merely arrested Yong Rith and sent him back to Cambodia.

“Please don’t shoot loggers and burn them alive when you catch them in Thailand,” Kong Mao said. If you cut down a tree, you can just plant a new one. But a logger is not a plant. When you shoot a logger, he is just dead.”

Report says teen burned alive

Friday, 09 October 2009
Thet Sambath
The Phnom Penh Post

AUTHORITIES in Oddar Meanchey province said Thursday they have compiled a report including solid evidence that proves a Cambodian teenager was shot and burned alive by Thai soldiers last month.

The report forms part of Cambodia’s investigation into a case that triggered outrage and condemnation from senior government officials this side of the border.

“We have concluded Yon Rith was burned alive after he was shot and injured by Thai soldiers,” said Noun Eth, police chief in Oddar Meanchey’s Samrong town, who collected photos and spoke with witnesses who were near the victim before he died. “We are strictly investigating this case, and we have witnesses and evidence to confirm.”

Cambodian officials have long maintained that Yon Rith, 16, was burned alive by Thai soldiers, who suspected him of illegal logging along the disputed border zone. In the days following the incident, which took place in early September, a Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman denied the allegations in a Bangkok newspaper.

Thai officials have since acknowledged that Thai soldiers burned the boy’s body, but insisted they did so only after he died, the deputy chief of the Thai-Cambodian border crossing in Poipet told the Post in late September.

Cambodian officials, however, rejected the Thai denials. “Thai soldiers burned the Cambodian teenager alive because they might have been angry at Cambodians for tensions along the border at the Preah Vihear temple,” Noun Eth suggested.

The boy’s father, Saing Yon, said he saw his son’s arm bones still bound with burned rope to an ox cart. “I saw burning rope around my son’s arm bones. I saw his footsteps when he tried to escape the burning,” Saing Yon said. “If I had a video camera or a camera, I would take photos for Thai soldiers to see.”

Chhim Sivuth, secretary general for Oddar Meanchey province, said investigators interviewed 10 witnesses who saw Yon Rith being shot. They claimed Thai soldiers grabbed the boy, preventing him from fleeing. “Thai soldiers never confessed their mistake,” Chhim Sivuth said.

He contrasted the Thai soldiers’ alleged actions with those of Cambodian soldiers, who he said arrested six Thai teenagers who had strayed into Cambodian territory a little more than a week after Yon Rith’s charred remains were found.

“We released them on the same day after they were questioned,” Chhim Sivuth said. “Our soldiers have good hearts, and they respect human beings. They do not shoot unarmed people.”

Thai embassy officials could not be reached for comment on Thursday. The Cambodian government had not yet received the Oddar Meanchey report, but spokesman Koy Kuong said officials would read it and send a diplomatic note to the Thais.

Thai soldiers were also accused of firing warning shots at Cambodian troops in the same region this week. The Thais twice fired an M79 grenade launcher when Cambodian armed forces came to inspect the construction of three small houses in a disputed border area during the incident Monday, said Chhim Sivuth, secretary general for Oddar Meanchey province.

“Our soldiers retreated to avoid armed confrontation,” Chhim Sivuth said. “Their shots were to warn our soldiers not to go and see their construction in the disputed area.”

The shots were fired near Ta Krabey temple in Oddar Meanchey’s Banteay Ampil district, Chhim Sivuth said. Cambodian authorities are still concerned about the houses, although soldiers did not report seeing any Thai soldiers inside them.

“Our commanders are asking to meet the Thai side to ask them about these houses because they are in a disputed area,” Chhim Sivuth said.

Chea Morn, the commander for Military Region 4, said he was unaware of the incident.

Thais seek cooperation

Wednesday, 23 September 2009
Cheang Sokha
The Phnom Penh Post

Officials deny troops killed Cambodian boy but seek help in inquiry.

THAILAND has asked for Cambodian assistance in its investigations into the case of a Cambodian boy allegedly burned alive by Thai border troops this month, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, despite denying the involvement of Thai border troops in the affair.

Koy Kuong, spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said that a letter from the Thai Foreign Ministry on Thursday said that Thai authorities have not received enough evidence to substantiate Cambodian claims but that they appeared to welcome Cambodian input in the case.

“They have asked Cambodia for further joint investigations into the case to find more evidence, so that they can apprehend the perpetrators and punish them,” he said, adding that the ministry has asked the Cambodian consul in Srah Keo province and Oddar Meanchey provincial authorities to investigate the case further and gather more evidence.

The Thai government also stated in the letter that the black-clad Thai army unit 2608 had denied being on the scene on the day of the alleged incident, Koy Kuong said.

Evaluating the evidence

On September 11, the burning corpse of 16-year-old Yon Rith was found by villagers after he and his friend Mao Kleung were said to have been shot by Thai soldiers while cutting down trees close to the border with Cambodia.

Other villagers in the group, escaped unharmed from their confrontation with the Thai soldiers. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs sent a diplomatic note to Thailand on September 15 demanding an explanation of the matter.

Thon Nol, governor of Oddar Meanchey province’s Samroang district, said Tuesday that he had already collected photos of Yon Rith’s body after the alleged burning and other documents relating to the case.

“I am prepared to cooperate on this case,” he said.

“We have evidence and believe that the boy was burned by Thai soldiers.”

Sacrava's Political Cartoon: The Barbaric Army

Click on the cartoon to zoom in

Cartoon by Sacrava (on the web at http://sacrava.blogspot.com)

Thai Embassy Request Investigation of Murder Report

By Heng Reaksmey, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
18 September 2009

"We never commit violence or cruelty to the Cambodian people (sic!)" - Suwat Saew Sook, adviser to the Thai ambassador in Phnom Penh

The Thai Embassy in Phnom Penh has requested its government to investigate the alleged killing of a Cambodian youth on the border last week, an embassy official said Friday.

Cambodian officials have said a 16-year-old boy was first shot and then burned alive by Thai soldiers after he was arrested for illegally crossing the border, a claim Thai authorities deny.

Suwat Saew Sook, an adviser to the ambassador in Phnom Penh, said the embassy had received the request from the Foreign Ministry and forwarded it to the Thai government.

The Thai government and its soldiers are committed to “non-violence,” he said. “We never commit violence or cruelty to the Cambodian people.”

The Foreign Ministry claims Yon Rith, 16, was shot and later killed after illegally felling trees in Thailand. Several other boys managed to escape, the ministry said in a letter.

Father of burn victim rejects Thai denials

Bullet still lodged inside of Mao Kleung will shed light on the role of Thai troops in last week’s incident

Friday, 18 September 2009
Thet Sambath
The Phnom Penh Post

Bullet lodged in bystander could shed light on case

AS Cambodia continued to wait for an official Thai diplomatic response in the case of a young man allegedly shot and then burned alive by Thai troops on the border between the two countries, the victim’s father demanded that Thai officials admit responsibility for his son’s death.

“I was angered to hear the Thai officials’ comment that their soldiers merely shot in the air. My son’s life is not something I will let them lie about or make a mockery of,” Saing Yon, father of murdered 16-year-old Yon Rith, told the Post on Thursday.

“I am still demanding that Thailand make a public admission. I do not need compensation – I want those responsible to be punished.”

Yon Rith was allegedly shot and burned alive last Friday. Fellow villager Mao Kleung was also shot but survived and is recovering in an Oddar Meanchey province hospital. Ten other Cambodians escaped unharmed from the confrontation with the Thai soldiers.

Srey Naren, Oddar Meanchey provincial coordinator for local rights group Adhoc, said that the bullet still lodged inside of Mao Kleung will shed light on the role of Thai troops in last week’s incident. When doctors remove the bullet and submit it for analysis, she said, “we will have evidence to put before the Thai foreign affairs officials”.

Koy Kuong, spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said on Thursday that his ministry was still waiting for an official written response from the Thai side to Tuesday’s diplomatic note.

“They have to answer because this is a very serious issue. If they do not respond, it means they accept responsibility [for the incident],” Koy Kuong said.

The Bangkok Post reported on Wednesday that Vimon Kidchob, spokeswoman for the Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs, denied the allegations against the Thai soldiers.

On Thursday, however, an official from the Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs told the Post in an email that his government was not ready to make an official statement.

Border burning death increases Thai-Cambodia tensions

September 18, 2009
ABC Radio Australia

The Cambodian government is calling for an investigation into the alleged shooting of illegal loggers by Thai troops near Cambodia's north-west border. A 16-year-old Cambodian boy was reportedly burnt alive, after being wounded by a bullet and captured by Thai soldiers.

Presenter: Desmond Ang
Speakers: Koy Kuong, Spokeman for the Cambodian Foreign Ministry, Nhem Peng; Yon Saing, godfather to Yon Rith; Dr Christopher Roberts, Lecturer with the University of Canberra.

Click here to listen to the audio program (Windows Media)