The Phnom Penh Municipal Court transferred a trafficking case involving a 17-year-old girl to the Sihanoukville Municipal Court on Wednesday, sparking fears among the victim and human rights groups that the courts are stalling the case.
The decision to transfer jurisdiction to Sihanoukville marks the fourth time the courts have delayed trying the case.
“This is not fair,” said Roth Chreb on Wednesday. She said five people trafficked her in 2001 from Phnom Penh to a Sihanoukville brothel where she was forcibly detained for four months.
Police rescued Roth Chreb in January after they raided the brothel and arrested five people, including the alleged brothel owner. Although the courts dismissed charges against the alleged owner, four suspects are still in Prey Sar prison awaiting trial.
The case, however, became fraught with problems. In mid-August, Roth Chreb wrote a letter to the Supreme Council of Magistracy—Cambodia’s highest judicial body—accusing Court Judge Kong Set of intimidating her and requesting bribes to drop the charges against the defendants.
According to Ith Phum, Roth Chreb’s lawyer, the courts had postponed trying the case three times before Wednesday’s decision because the alleged traffickers had not been brought to the courthouse. It is not uncommon for trials in Cambodia to be held without the accused present.
“They have no reason to move this case to Sihanoukville,” Ith Phum said Wednesday. “The accused are all being held in Prey Sar, and the victim [Roth Chreb] is living in Phnom Penh.”
Phnom Penh Municipal Court Judge Sok Sethamony said Sihanoukville should have jurisdiction over the case since the alleged crimes occurred there.
Sothy Sun, acting director for the Cambodian Womens’ Crisis Center, disputes the court’s claims that the crimes occurred only in Sihanoukville.
“Roth Chreb was coerced in Phnom Penh and trafficked while living in Phnom Penh,” she said on Wednesday. “They are trying to stall the trial.”
