Fearing for her safety, the main witness in a sex trafficking case has apparently decided to drop the charges against the man she had accused of being part of an international human smuggling ring.
“Han,” a Vietnamese girl who was trafficked from Vietnam through Cambodia, China and Macau, will probably drop charges against Tang Him Min, 35, at a pre-trial hearing today, according to Agency for Women in Precarious Situations (Afesip) regional coordinator Pierre Legros.
With or without the witness, the courts have a duty to prosecute the case because the charge is criminal, said Minister of Women’s Affairs Mu Sochua.
“The prosecution has a duty to pursue [the case],” she said. “It never happens. This is like a test case. If the courts let this case go free, it is like opening a door to the trafficking ringleaders, [signaling Cambodia] as a transit place to get victims to a third country.”
Han was moved to southern China and Macau through Pochentong Airport using a passport issued in Sihanoukville which she says was false.
Afesip has taken up Han’s case and has been sheltering her in Phnom Penh. Her name has been changed to protect her identity.
Han’s withdrawal from the proceedings further dimmed hopes for an effective trial, Legros said. But Afesip will pursue the case against Tang Him Min, because it believes Han is a minor.
Her testimony is not needed to continue the trial, Legros said, because the prosecuting judge for the case has already interviewed Han, so her statements are already a matter of court record.
There is still danger the “corrupt” court system will bury or bungle the case, Legros said. The courts delayed the trial twice, putting heavy psychological pressure on Han, and had not invited police to participate in the trial, Legros claimed.
Presiding judge Hing Thearith Wednesday denied any corruption surrounding the case. He said it was postponed earlier this week while the courts had added more judges to their roster to help reduce case loads.
It is rights groups like Afesip who do not follow the rule of law, since they “always overrule the courts,” Hing Thearith contended.
Police had not been invited because “we only need to have the victim and the offender. This case is very different,” Hing Thearith said.
Police sent some evidence found at the time of Thang Kim Min’s arrest to the courts, said national police lieutenant-colonel Touch Gnim, chief of the human trafficking office. Authorities found sex videos, heroin and passports in Thang Kim Min’s home, Touch Gnim said. The courts did not invite police to help the investigation, which Touch Gnin said is unusual.
“The court conducted the wrong procedure already,” he said. “If I go to the court without an invitation, I don’t have the right to complain.”
“The situation has changed,” Legros said. Han has received “too much pressure” and has already been “traumatized” by her alleged abduction.
She was supposed to testify against Tang Kim Min, who was arrested in June 2001, under charges related to human trafficking.
Han’s testimony would not only be a breakthrough in this case, but for all human trafficking cases, Legros said.
“In the world, you might have 10 [witnesses] a year testify in trafficking cases,” he said. “In abuse cases, sure, but in trafficking cases, no.”
Han, like most victims, had been intimidated throughout her trafficking experience, Legros said.
“They beat, sometimes rape, the girls to threaten them,” he said. “A minor cannot stand up to that kind of pressure.”
By taking the lead, Legros said, he fears he may be putting himself and his staff in danger, because the international case likely involves “high-ranking officials” as well as Vietnamese and Chinese crime syndicates.
Han said she received a falsified passport in Cambodia, which now contains the visas for China and Macau, trademarks of syndicate involvement, Legros said.
