The Phnom Penh Municipal Court has finished an investigation into the shooting deaths of five protesting garment factory workers, and the wounding of more than 40 others, during a military police operation against stone-throwing strikers on January 3, Judge Phou Povsun said Sunday.
“We had finished the investigation on Friday,” Judge Povsun said.
“When we finish the investigation, the prosecutor will make his conclusion and after he finishes the conclusion, he will send it back to me. I will check it and decide who will go to a hearing or what,” he said.
Mr. Povsun said it will depend entirely on the prosecutor whether anyone has a case to answer from the violence on Veng Sreng Street in the city’s industrial belt.
“We will have to wait [for] the conclusion from the prosecutor…. We will wait and see the conclusion after we have the result of the investigation,” he said. “We do not know about the hearing yet.”
There are currently 21 people detained in jail after being arrested by soldiers and military police officers during garment strike protests on January 2 and 3.
Last week, during high-level talks held in Brussels, the European Union called on visiting Cambodia government officials to release the 21 jailed protesters.
