The Kompong Cham provincial court has delayed the trial of two policemen and a former militia member accused of killing a Funcinpec commune candidate and a Sam Rainsy Party activist until after Khmer New Year.
The potentially ground-breaking case could mark the first time anyone accused of election violence in the province is brought to justice.
The case involves three men—Eang Vat, Lang Sareth and Yun Samoun—who authorities accuse of shooting to death Funcinpec commune candidate Thon Phally and Sam Rainsy Party activist Phuong Sophat on Nov 14.
The two men were killed less than two hours apart in Srolop commune. At least 17 killings of candidates or activists were reported in the months leading up to the Feb 3 commune elections.
“There are witnesses in this case and a lot of circumstantial evidence showing that the three suspects are the right suspects,” said Adrian Edwards, election analyst for the UN. “If these are the right suspects, and the correct court process is followed and observed, then this would be significant progress in Cambodia.”
Thon Phally and Phuong Sophat were included in a list of 17 people who were “murdered or died in suspect circumstances” in the period from Jan 2001 to Election Day, according to a UN report on the commune elections released Thursday. The report was the third and last on the commune elections to be compiled by the UN Special Representative of the Secretary General for Human Rights in Cambodia.
The report is highly critical of the violence, intimidation and lack of media access during the election process and blames the CPP for at least some of the intimidation.
The report noted that authorities have won convictions in only three of the 17 election-related killings. And in those cases, the UN and international observers criticized the courts and the government for convicting the wrong suspects or not observing proper legal process.
The most recent example is a case in which the Battambang provincial court sentenced seven people for killing Sam Rainsy Party commune candidate Sam Sophea. International observers said at the time that the courts had very little evidence against some of the suspects and most likely convicted the wrong men. The UN report stated that one man was convicted on “flimsy grounds.”
The UN report also mentioned a similar incident of “flawed” judicial process in Siem Reap. On Feb 22, the Siem Reap provincial court sentenced three men for killing Sam Rainsy Party activist Touch Voeun in a case which the report criticized as being “marred by serious procedural irregularities,” such as incorrect arrests and a lack of evidence.
These and other previous examples of alleged weak law enforcement, judicial malfeasance and impunity make the postponed Kompong Cham trial so significant, Edwards said.
Because the authorities seemingly arrested the correct suspects—including policemen and former militia members—this could be an important step toward finding justice for at least two victims of political killings during an election campaign, Edwards said Thursday.
According to the UN report, either no arrests have been made or no trials have been set in at least 12 of the cases where a commune candidate or activist was killed.
Eang Vat, Lang Sareth and Yun Samoun—the three men accused of shooting to death Thon Phally and Phuong Sophat—were part of a notorious roving gang that intimidated villagers and Funcinpec and Sam Rainsy Party political candidates and activists in Kompong Cham—the province with five “election murders” and the most severe election problems, according to the report.
The gang—made up of three policemen and two militia members—was accused by the UN of harassing Funcinpec candidates so much in Kompong Cham’s Tbong Khmum district that one Funcinpec candidate had to be evacuated from the area and others hid in rice fields at night, the report said.
The UN report stated that the gangs “were clearly organized and involved members of the police force and military.”
Kompong Cham province governor Cheang Am and provincial police chief Kong Sokhun Thursday did not deny the police or military were involved in the killings. But they said none of the killings of candidates and activists in Kompong Cham were politically motivated—a sentiment shared by Ministry of Interior spokesman General Khieu Sopheak.
“This time, I guarantee you that no CPP officials ordered the participation of the killings,” Khieu Sopheak said in reference to the Thon Phally and Phuong Sophat cases. “Even if the accused are police officers, they have to face the courts and face justice.” He said the motivation behind the killing was robbery.
When asked if it was suspicious that the men killed were both commune candidates or activists, and that both were killed in the same commune two hours apart with what appears to be the same weapon, Khieu Sopheak said it was only a “coincidence.”
Funcinpec parliamentarian Serey Kosal disputed Khieu Sopheak’s explanation of the killing.
“As I’ve said many times before, I believe the killing of all the Funcinpec commune candidates and officials is politically motivated,” he said. “The local authorities must be held responsible for the intimidation, but the government is also responsible because they need [better security] for the commune election candidates.”
Serey Kosal did not accuse the CPP of orchestrating the intimidation and violence against the Funcinpec candidates. But the UN report stated that “in general, it appears that instructions from the Cambodian People’s Party to members and local officials may have been interpreted in ways that caused some intimidation to occur.”
The Kompong Cham court has not yet set a new date for the trial of Eang Vat, Lang Sareth and Yun Samoun. The courts also accused two other men—Yun Tory and Chhong Rotha—of killing Thon Phally and Phuong Sophat. They are still at large. Authorities have issued warrants for their arrest.
