More than 100 people protested outside Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Monday against its sentencing last week of a teenager for conspiracy in the murder of a senior Funcinpec official’s wife at the TV9 television station.
Family and friends of 16-year-old Kuoch Thul denounced the guilty verdict and called for a retrial. “The court didn’t find justice. My hope is Samdech [Prime Minister] Hun Sen,” said Kuoch Thul’s father Yim Chrel, adding that a court clerk had told him his only option was to appeal.
Kuoch Thul was sentenced on April 25 to 10 years in jail for his role in the Jan 12 slaying of Khun Srey Mom, the wife of Khay Khun Heng, secretary of state at the Post and Telecommunications Ministry. Khun Srey Mom was found dead outside TV9, where she had been shot in the leg and was either thrown or fell from a third-floor room. The court found that Kuoch Thul had helped tie up and gag the victim prior to her murder.
Over 100 residents of Kuoch Thul’s home village of Prey Chraluoch in Kraing Leav commune in Takeo province’s Bati district accompanied Yim Chrel to court.
Ny Chakrya, head monitor for the rights group Adhoc, told a press conference Monday that there had been considerable irregularities in the trial, at which a key witness appeared unreliable and the prosecution’s case inconsistent.
“We call on the Appeals Court to check the irregularities at the municipal court,” he said.
Deputy Prosecutor Phlang Sophal said the punishment fit the crime. “The judges on appeal will decide if the verdict is right or wrong,” he said. “I think the punishment should be accepted by Kuoch Thul.”
(Additional reporting by Douglas Gillison)
