Phnom Penh Municipal Court sentenced six men to life in prison for the kidnapping and murder of a 14-year-old boy in a botched-ransom attempt in 1998, a court official said Sunday.
Judge Mong Mony Chakriya sentenced the men to life because they killed a minor, said Nget Sarath, a vice chief prosecutor for the municipal court. Four other men were sentenced in absentia, Nget Sarath said.
Leang Sovann, the son of an immigration police captain in the Ministry of Interior, was kidnapped in May 1998, and was strangled after a shoot-out between police and his kidnappers, Reuters reported. The six convicts, whom Nget Sarath did not name, will be sent to Prey Sar prison in Phnom Penh.
Three of the men were part of the Interior Ministry’s penal police, Reuters reported. Mong Mony Chakriya could not be reached for comment Sunday, but told Reuters the harsh sentences for the 10 men were meant as a warning to other would-be kidnappers.
Phnom Penh is routinely plagued by bands of kidnappers, but police have made a concerted effort to break them up. Last month, the Interior Ministry announced it had broken up the so-called “Underwear Gang,” which terrorized locals in the countryside.
Last year, police shot and killed the infamous kidnapping gang leader Rasmach after Phnom Penh Governor Chea Sophara vowed a crackdown.
