The Supreme Council of Magistracy, Cambodia’s highest legal body, issued a statement Friday denying that Municipal Court Investigating Judge Hing Thirith was removed for political reasons.
The decision to remove Hing Thirith on Monday was attributed to mistakes made in several unnamed legal cases and followed a recommendation by the council’s disciplinary arm, the council said in an unsigned statement Friday.
Hing Thirith, among other things, was guilty of temporarily releasing suspects without a prosecutor’s permission; considering biased evidence; summoning a police officer for questioning and trying to dismiss charges without evidence, the statement said.
The removal was not connected to his judgments in three recent politically-charged court rulings, including the case against Prime Minister Hun Sen’s nephew Nhim Sophea and the slaying of union leader Chea Vichea, the statement added. “The [Council’s] decision is very right and based on the law,” the supreme legal body said of its decision.
Hing Thirith said this week that a high-ranking government official had ordered him to see through the prosecution of two suspects in the Chea Vichea case. Last Friday, he dropped the case against the two men due to a lack of evidence.
The UN human rights office issued a statement on Friday expressing deep concern regarding the council’s basis for the dismissal of Hing Thirith and Oun Bunna.
“It remains a cardinal principal of judicial independence that a judge cannot be suspended from duty or removed because he or she has made a mistake in applying or interpreting the law—that is the function of the appeal process,” the UN said.
Judges, however, could be removed for such misbehavior as taking bribes, the UN added.
Payments of cash to influence court officials is believed to be endemic to the court system.
Contacted Friday, Hing Thirith rejected the council’s statement and said he was preparing to answer back in detail the criticism of his legal work.
