Concerned over the implications of the extension of the pre-trial detention of Ta Mok, a human rights activist and criminal defense attorney Wednesday criticized the government’s decision to add new charges against the former Khmer Rouge leader.
“This is a bad example for the rights of the accused. It will have bad effects on other defendants,” Cambodian Defenders Project Director Sok Sam Oeun said on Wednesday. Sok Sam Oeun is also executive director of the Human Rights Action Committee.
Government officials last month charged Ta Mok with crimes against humanity for his role in the deaths of more than 1 million Cambodians during the Khmer Rouge regime. His pre-trial detention, already extended by special legislative action from six months to three years, was originally scheduled to expire Wednesday, but the new charges allow the government to hold him for three more years.
HRAC officials met Tuesday to discuss Ta Mok’s case and decided not to pursue any direct action, but did condemn the new charges. “There is no law to support extending Ta Mok’s detention,” Sok Sam Oeun said.
There was some support for extending Ta Mok’s pre-trial detention.
“Obviously, it’s warranted, given the man’s track record,” US ambassador Kent Wiedemann said a few days before the government announced the new charges.
A judge on Wednesday said Cambodia’s judiciary has the right to extend Ta Mok’s time.
“The judge has the right to add more charges if the investigation finds evidence against the accused,” Military Court Judge Ngin Sam An said.
(Additional reporting by Bill Myers)
