A Woman Had Been Temporarily Detained for Around Three Years without Any Hearing Yet, and It Is Suspected that Her Case File Had Been Lost

Posted on 18 July 2009
The Mirror, Vol. 13, No. 621
http://cambodiamirror.wordpress.com/

“Banteay Meanchey: A really long waiting continues. A woman is the only [suspected] culprit who has been temporarily detained already for three years and two months in a prison in Banteay Meanchey, but she has not been summoned by the court for a hearing according to legal procedures. A source said that because her case file had been lost, the court has not dealt with her case.

“A source close to that woman told Rasmei Kampuchea on 16 July 2009 that her name is Roeun Sophea, 29 years old, from Palelai village, Poipet; she was arrested on 9 June 2006 and four days later, the Banteay Meanchey court issued a warrant to detain her temporarily in the prison of this province – where she is until now.

“This woman was accused of smuggling 1,130 drug tablets at the above place, and the woman has admitted that she had done what she was accused.

“According to the same source, this woman’s affairs were registered as Case #284, dated 12 June 2006 by the judge Tob Chansereyvuth (now a prosecutor of the Pursat Municipal Court).

“Based on the same source, the woman has never been interrogated about the [suspected] crime, nor has she been informed how long she will be jailed (as she has not yet been prosecuted). The woman has been detained temporarily without knowing how many years the court might sentences her to serve in prison, making her to wait for this information in the prison.”

[It is surprising that the report does not mention at all that the maximum pre-trial period, according to Cambodian law, is six months – after that time a suspect has either to be presented to a court or to be released.]

Rasmei Kampuchea, Vol.17, #4948, 17.7.2009
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Friday, 17 July 2009