A Municipal Court judge Thursday asked lawyers and prosecutors to prepare their closing arguments as the trial of 32 alleged members of the Cambodian Freedom Fighters charged with trying to topple the government completed its fourth day.
Phnom Penh Judge Sok Setha Mony told attorneys to submit arguments in writing so he could prepare his decision. After calling nine defendants Thursday, four of whom pleaded innocent, eight defendants remain. Officials are trying Cambodian-Americans Chhun Yasith and Thong Samien in absentia.
Among the defendants called Thursday was Teh Sarin, 35, a motorbike taxi driver, who said the photo used to arrest him was of another man who seems to have a facial scar and who wears a coat that Teh Sarin said he does not own.
“I deny this photo is me. I’ve never had a picture taken with a big coat. The picture inside is not my picture because it has a scar on the face,” he said.
Also testifying Thursday was Buddhist monk Sok Thy, who said he had only been invited to pray for the CFF, not to participate in the Nov 24, 2000, uprising.
But prosecutors showed a photo, taken from the computer of Cambodian-American and confessed CFF leader Richard Kiri Kim, that showed Sok Thy wearing a coat, which is against a Buddhist monk’s traditions.
When asked for an explanation, the monk whispered that he had been forced to wear the jacket, but did not explain further.
Still to be called is Un Srey Mao, 34, the only woman charged with the conspiracy that led to at least eight deaths in and around Phnom Penh.
Most of the questions during the trial, which opened Monday, have centered on the defendants’ knowledge of or relationship with Kiri Kim and An Mao, the CFF military commander. Both men have admitted to staging the uprising in an attempt to overthrow the government, but their lawyers plan to argue that since it was a political operation, they cannot be convicted as terrorists. Kiri Kim’s lawyer said he hopes to have his client deported to the US.
The trial has already been beset with criticism and controversy. Peter Leuprecht, the UN’s human rights monitor for Cambodia, visited Kiri Kim at Prey Sar prison in February and upbraided the government for not allowing the jailed man’s lawyer to meet with him.
Some of the lawyers met their clients for the first time on Monday, and other lawyers admitted to having met their clients only once for less than two hours. Leuprecht is scheduled to visit Cambodia June 22. The UN and other human rights activists have been monitoring the trial.
All 32 defendants could face life in prison if convicted.
