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The Mirror, Vol. 12, No. 595

“On 31 December 2008, the Supreme Court plans to hold a hearing for two suspects who are accused murders who shot dead the president of the Free Trade Union of Workers of the Royal Government of Cambodia, Mr. Chea Vichea, on 22 January 2004 where the Appeals Court kept the verdict of the Phnom Penh Municipal Court convicting each of them to serve 20 years in prison.

“In the meantime, Amnesty International released a statement asking the Supreme Court of Cambodia to release the two suspects, Bon Samnang and Sok Sam Oeun. While they are being held in prison, the real murderers and colluders are still free from being brought to be convicted according to the law regarding the murder of this trade union leader.

“Amnesty International said in its statement that the Supreme Court must release the suspects Bon Samnang and Sok Sam Oeun immediately. Both of them were arrested by the authorities a few days after Mr. Chea Vichea was killed by unidentified murderers in the morning of 22 January 2004 at a newspaper stall at the west of Wat Langka; the two suspects will be before the Supreme Court on 31 December 2008,after the Appeals Court upheld the conviction verdict of the Phnom Penh Municipal Court to send them to jail for 20 years, even though prosecutors had claimed that there was not enough evidence to convict both of them.

“Amnesty International added that there was tortures to extort confessions from the suspects Bon Samnang and Sok Sam Oeun, intimidations of witnesses, and intervention of politics into the implementation of the law. Also, in the detention, there were illegal activities conducted against the two suspects. The Amnesty International suggests for independent investigations in order to bring the real murders to be convicted.

“A researcher of the Amnesty International, Ms. Brittis Edman, said that confessions of the suspects Bon Samnang and Sok Sam Oeun were obtained by beating in detention by police, and the promise of awards was used to provide evidence for the court to sentence them to serve 20 years in jail unjustly.

“She added that the two suspects, Bon Samnang and Sok Sam Oeun, withdrew their fake confessions and the court cannot considers their confessions as evidence to convict them because they were obtained by force.

“Ministry of Interior spokesperson Khieu Sopeak denied these accusations and said that the court has not rejected to continue investigations by the authorities, and the authorities wait to follow the court’s decision.

“Local and UN human rights organizations in Cambodia went to conduct investigations in a village in Neak Loeang – where Bon Samnang’s girlfriend’s house is – during the Chinese New Year, and villagers asserted that Bon Samnang was at that happy time among them and with his girlfriend, and that he is not the murderer who shot Mr. Chea Vichea to death.

“Also, the former King had said that Bon Samnang and Sok Sam Oeun are not the murderers who killed Chea Vichea. Every year, officials of many human rights organizations regularly gather for a prayer according to Khmer tradition, like releasing birds and floating balloons, to give signs of the demand to the court to release the suspects Bon Samnang and Sok Sam Oeun, to be free like other Khmer citizens.

“Mr. Chea Vichea’s younger brother, Mr. Chea Mony, had called on the court to release the suspects Bon Samnang and Sok Sam Oeun, saying that they were not the real murderers. A woman who was a newspaper seller at the west of Wat Langka, where Mr. Chea Vichea was murdered on 22 January 2008, had written to the Appeals Court from Bangkok in Siam [Thailand] before she left to a third country, after receiving the right to asylum, saying that she had seen the murderers clearly, and Bon Samnang and Sok Sam Oeun, who are being detained, are not the real murders who killed Mr. Chea Vichea. But she could not say it immediately when the event had happened, because the police prohibited her from making a statement, and they made her to say what police planed for her to tell journalists and officials of national and international human rights organizations [before she fled abroad in fear].

“Heng Pov, who is the former Phnom Penh Municipal Police chief, now a prisoner convicted by the Phnom Penh Municipal Court to have been involved in many crimes, to serve more than 60 years in prison, is considered by officials of human rights organizations as an important witness to help Bon Samnang and Sok Sam Oeun be free from the 20-year prison term conviction [because Heng Pov, who arrested the two suspected during his power, had said that both of them are not the real murderers]. Officials of human rights organizations ask the judges and prosecutors to allow the authorities of the government to call Heng Pov as a witness in the hearing of the Supreme Court, which is planned to happen on 31 December 2008 next week.” Moneaksekar Khmer, Vol.15, #3648, 25.12.2008

Newspapers Appearing on the Newsstand:
Thursday, 25 December 2008

Kampuchea Thmey, Vol.7, #1829, 25.12.2008

• Awarding Ceremony for Three Cambodian Journalists Competing to Write ‘Reporting on Rural Development’ [Ms. Kang Kalyan from Cambodge Soir won the first price receiving US$700, followed by Mr. Tieng Mongkul from Sahakum Kien Svay winning $500, and Ing Chamroen from Cambodge Soir on the third rank winning US$300.
• Siamese [Thai] Minister of Foreign Affairs [Kasit Piromya – กษิต ภิรมย์] Apologized [to all Thai citizens for what he said during a press conference: that the demonstration to occupy two airports was a happy event]
• Brazil Buys Weapons from France Worth US$12,000,000,000

Khmer Machas Srok, Vol.2, #311, 25.12.2008

• Khmer Kampuchea Krom Communities Condemn Hanoi [for preventing two members of the European Parliament to go to Vietnam]

Khmer Sthapana, Vol.1, #167, 25.12.2008

• Local Fuel Companies Reduce the Fuel Prices, but the Prices of t Goods at Markets Remain Unchanged

Koh Santepheap, Vol.41, #6534, 25.12.2008

• There Are More Than 600 Newspapers and Magazines and 18 Journalists’ Associations, but a Representative to ASEAN Has Not yet Been Found [according to the Ministry of Information]
• US$1.4 Million Is Needed for the Organization of the District-Provincial and City Council Elections [which are planed to be held between 15 January 2009 and 15 June 2009]

Moneaksekar Khmer, Vol.15, #3648, 25.12.2008

• Amnesty International Asks the Supreme Court to Release Bon Samnang and Sok Sam Oeun without Any Condition
• [Former Khmer Rouge foreign minister] Ieng Sary Has Serious Heath Problems [his legs swells] and He Was Sent to the Calmette Hospital, Causing More Serious Concern [that he might die before truth is revealed]
• The Khmer Rouge Tribunal Plans to Summon Six More Suspects to the Court [according to the international co-prosecutor of the Khmer Rouge Tribunal, Mr. Robert Petit; however, a date was not mentioned]

Rasmei Kampuchea, Vol.16, #4777, 25.12.2008

• Hundreds of Logs [around 400 cubic meter] Cut and Piled up near a Rubber Plantation of a Military Officer in Ratanakiri [but his assistant said that the logs were cut for building two big bridges in Ratanakiri, as proposed by citizens; forestry officials have not yet taken action to seize the logs]
• The Ministry of Interior Said that the Royal Government Has a Plan to Divide Russey Keo into Two Districts [because of the rapid growth of the number of citizens, its large size, administration management, and the rapid growth of development]
• Vietnam Delivers [sixteen] Documentary Films Related to the Khmer Rouge Regime to the Documentation Center of Cambodia
• Man with His Girlfriend Drove on a Motor Taxi and Hit a Parked Truck Loaded with Gravel, Causing Two Deaths and Inuring One [the motor-taxi driver and the woman died while the man was seriously injured – Sihanoukville]
• North Korea Warns It Will Destroy South Korea to Ashes [it accuses South Korea of trying to create war]
• Michael Jackson Has Lung Problems and His Left Eye Is Almost Blind

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