The Court of Appeal on Monday upheld a six-year-old municipal court verdict against disgraced former Phnom Penh police chief Heng Pov for the attempted murder of a newspaper publisher.
“The court has decided to uphold [the sentence against] Heng Pov, who attempted to murder Thong Uy Pang, publisher of the Koh Santepheap newspaper,” said Presiding Judge Seng Sivutha, adding that Mr. Pov was the “mastermind” in the plot to kill the publisher.
In 2008, the municipal court sentenced Mr. Pov to 18 years in prison for the attempted murder of Mr. Uy Pang.
Former municipal minor crimes police chief Ly Rasy, former municipal foreigner police chief Pheng Phai and a former anti-drug department police officer, Heng Veng, also received 18-year sentences.
Their sentences were reduced by two years on Monday after the Appeal Court ruled that they were merely accomplices to the attempted murder.
The lawyer for Mr. Pov, who has been sentenced to nearly 100 years in prison on a slew of convictions related to his time as police chief, said the Appeal Court’s decision was unfair.
“It is an injustice for my client because he didn’t commit the crime,” said Kao Soupha.
