Cambodia genocide court must up caseload: Amnesty

The Extraodinary Chambers in the Court of Cambodia (ECCC) in Phnom Penh. Amnesty International has welcomed the opening of Cambodia's first genocide trial, but said the court must increase its caseload and address allegations of corruption.(AFP/ECCC/File)

PHNOM PENH (AFP) – Amnesty International on Saturday welcomed the opening of Cambodia's first genocide trial, but said the court must increase its caseload and address allegations of corruption.

Amnesty said the court should "urgently expand its prosecution strategy" following the start of the long-awaited trial of Khmer Rouge prison chief Kaing Guek Eav, better known by the alias Duch.

His trial began last month. One of five former Khmer Rouge leaders scheduled to be tried by the court, Duch is due to finally take the stand on Monday.

"Many more need to face the court to really deliver justice to the millions of victims of these horrific crimes," said researcher Brittis Edman, adding that many suspects were now elderly and could die before facing justice.

The Cambodian government has been accused of trying to scupper further trials amid fears that it could target former Khmer Rouge members currently in top posts in Prime Minister Hun Sen's administration.

The Cambodian side of the international court has also been hit by claims of political interference and a scandal in which local staff were allegedly forced to pay kickbacks for their jobs.

The London-based group said the claims must be quickly addressed.

"Any corruption allegations must be investigated promptly and thoroughly," Edman said.

Up to two million people died of starvation and overwork, or were executed, as the 1975-1979 regime emptied Cambodia's cities in its drive to create a communist utopia.

Once-Feared Rebel Says She Won’t Testify

Im Chaem, a once-feared rebel and district chief, says she will protest if indicted by the Khmer Rouge Tribunal

By Sok Khemara, VOA Khmer
Original report from Cambodia

A well-known former Khmer Rouge district chief says she’ll take legal action if she’s indicted by a broader list of suspects by tribunal prosecutors and won’t testify in the courts.

Yeay Chaem, known during the revolution as Im Chaem, told VOA Khmer in a rare interview that she had nothing to do with the killings that came to characterize the regime, despite numerous testimonies from the villagers in the area who said they learned to fear her name.

“I can tell you frankly that I did not commit anything linked to [the loss of] human life,” the 65-year-old Yeay Chaem said, speaking from her home in the former Khmer Rouge sanctuary of Anlong Veng, located in a remote part of northwestern Cambodia. “I will not answer, and I will not accept, if my name is brought for indictment. I will protest, because [the tribunal] should find truth and solutions according to just means.”

Her words echo the sentiments of many form regime members, as the Khmer Rouge tribunal prepares to try five of its former leaders, including prison chief Duch, whose trial begins Monday. Prosecutors at the special court are at odds over whether to indict more regime cadre and are awaiting a decision by pre-trial judges.

Some observers, like Youk Chhang, director of the Documentation Center of Cambodia, say an increase in indictments will not cause instability, one of the reasons given for limiting the number of leaders arrested. Those who could be brought to trial are many, he said. After all, there were 198 prison chiefs like Duch, who is facing atrocity crimes charges for his role in the alleged torture and execution of more than 12,000 Cambodians.

Like many former leaders of the regime, Yeay Chaem does not see herself among those who should be indicted. Now a deputy commune chief in Anglong Veng, she speaks with authority, and in a recent interview she was confident and smiling.

She said as a Khmer Rouge district chief, her role was to help people cultivate rice, and her position as a female leader in the government of Democratic Kampuchea was highlighted in a film that was shown nationwide. People have sometimes apologized to her for wrongly accusing her of killings, she said.

Villagers in the district of Preah Net Preah, Banteay Meanchey province, where Yeay Chaem was once in charge, tell a different story. Many said they were much afraid of her in the 1970s, when farmers in her area went missing for infractions against the revolution.

“Even though she’s a woman, she ordered killings, that’s why there was death,” said one man in Phnom Leap village. (No villager was willing to be named, fearing reprisal.)

The man described being nearly killed himself by Yeay Chaem’s bodyguards, after he suggested farmers in the area be given more food. He was able to untie his bonds before he was killed, he said, and fled to Thailand.

Another villager said he was nearly killed too, for farming rice improperly.

“The one who supervised me to pull rice [seedlings] was killed with his family members in a nearby area, as she was angered at him pulling in an improper way,” the man said, referring to Yeay Chaem. “Whether they were killed or not, I didn’t see with my own eyes, but that family went missing forever.”

Villagers say they learned to fear the name of Im Chaem, but the former cadre now says that’s only because she was rumored to have magic that could stop bullets. That wasn’t true, she said.

People did die, she said, but not by her orders. “Some died on the battlefield, some died because there was no food, as we were a country at war.” She regretted there had not been enough food or shelter for people. “I’m not afraid, because I did nothing wrong.”

Even though she could be a suspect, Yeay Chaem said she supports the current tribunal efforts to try leaders of the regime.

“I’m very grateful for the discovery of justice for our brothers and sisters of that era,” she said. “But if they indict me, I don’t agree, and for myself, if they bring me to testify, they must contact me with clear proof. If not, it’s not my business; I will not go.”

Some villagers think Yeay Chaem should be prosecuted, even if they never directly saw her do any killing. Many people went missing in the area she controlled, they said.

“In Phnom Leap, here, there were a lot of graves,” said one. “One grave had 200 people; 50, 60, also have.”

Pointing to a mountain named Phnom Trayong, a monk said many killings had taken place there.

“To find this lady with your own eye, whether she herself did the killing, was impossible,” one villager said. “If we went near [an execution] they would kill us too.”

No Legal Backing for Casino Closures: Lawmaker

By Kong Sothanarith, VOA Khmer
Phnom Penh

While the closures of slot machine and sports gambling sites are a welcome change to Cambodia, the way they were closed was outside the law and should be reviewed, an opposition lawmaker said Monday.

Prime Minister Hun Sen recently ordered the closure of Cambo Six sites, which were popular for sports betting, as well as slot machines that had found their ways into many hotels in the capital.

"We were asking this for years," Sam Rainsy Party parliamentarian Son Chhay said, as a guest on "Hello VOA." "But the measure is strange and unlawful, because it proves this practice was done by decisions of power, not decisions of the judiciary."

So even if the gambling shut-down was good for Cambodia, decision-making outside the law could keep potential investors away, he said.

Meanwhile, he said, even though Cambo Six sites were closed, betting could be secretly practiced at the one casino in Phnom Penh that has avoided closure for years, Naga.

"We will lodge complaints against Naga if we find this true" he said.

Sports betting is still being done over the Internet, and the orders have not stamped out overnight the Cambodian penchant for gambling, Son Chhay said.

More than most countries in the world, Cambodians love to bet, "including betting on soccer, betting on boxing, betting on the rain and on cock fighting," he said. "Therefore, this phenomenon causes banditry, family crises and social insecurity."

The closure order was not backed by any law making investment in casinos and other gambling sites illegal, Son Chhay said, adding that around 40 casinos are still operating on the borders of Vietnam and Thailand.

Responding to a caller's question, Son Chhay said state revenue from casinos over the last three years exceeded $10 million, "but foreign investors took more than $300 million, $400 million, per year from our country and our citizens."

Rights Situation Improving: Senior Adviser

Om Yentieng, senior adviser to Prime Minister Hun Sen, speaking as a guest on 'Hello VOA' Thursday.

By Kong Sothanarith, VOA Khmer
Phnom Penh

Contrary to recent reports, Cambodia’s human rights situation is getting better, a top government official said Thursday.

“Human rights have improved each decade,” said Om Yentieng, who is a senior adviser to Prime Minister Hun Sen and head of Cambodia’s Human Rights Committee. “We not actually equality before the law, press freedom, no more abuse [of prisoners] in detention, and all NGOs can execute their activities.”

The government continually faces criticism of its human rights record, including the condition of its prisons, biased courts, land thefts from powerful officials or the military and other alleged rights violations.

But speaking as a guest on “Hello VOA” Thursday, Om Yentieng said there were now “too many reports related to the human rights situation in Cambodia.”

The reports from different organizations were conflicting and do not give a proper picture of the situation, he said.

While the government continues to struggle with some human rights issues, he said, “each person can evaluate the situation by his or her own view.”

Arrests Urged in Siem Reap Police Shooting

By Chun Sakada, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh

A rights group called on Siem Reap authorities Friday to hold responsible armed forces who opened fire on a crowd of protesting villagers Sunday, injuring four.

More than 100 military police and soldiers clashed with protesting villagers Sunday, in an incident that led to four shooting injuries, nine arrests and around 50 villagers fleeing their homes for fear of arrest, Licadho said, adding that the nine arrested men should also be released.

The villages were protesting a land dispute in Chi Kreang district, Siem Reap province, when the shooting occurred.

“A rich and powerful man is right in this land dispute, but we poor face injustice,” Thong Sareth, a 33-year-old villager told reporters at Licadho’s headquarters Friday. “So I would like to send my grievances to Prime Minister Hun Sen about the shooting and violence on unarmed villagers.”

Reporters were shown footage of Sunday’s clash, which shows the district police chief, Srey Som Ol, shooting at the ground at the feet of protesters. Those shots were followed by a policeman also shooting at the ground in front of the villagers.

Four people were hit with bullets following the shooting. Three remain in the hospital.

Srey Som Ol could not be reached for comment Friday.

No member of the military police or army has been disciplined for the shooting. Ministry of Interior spokesman Lt. Gen. Khieu Sopheak said a national working group would investigate the shooting.

“This was extremely serious violence against villagers committed by government armed forces, and it demands a strong response by the government,” Licadho president Kek Galabru said in a statement. “The police and other officials who committed this violence must be punished, and there must be a fair resolution to this land dispute.”

Am Samath, an investigator for Licahdo, said he was deeply concerned about the impunity shown those responsible in the shooting.

“The shooters must be investigated or arrests…according to the law, to show transparency,” he said. “The authorities must be responsible for shooting the villagers.”

Siem Reap prosecutor Thy Sovann Thal the court was considering releasing the nine men, who are charged with attacking the security forces and the theft of rice from a field. The case had to be investigated, he said.

Ex-Khmer Rouge still dominate regions of Cambodia

ANLONG VENG, Cambodia (AP) — Just as the chief Khmer Rouge torturer takes the stand before a United Nations-backed genocide tribunal, a mausoleum fit for a king will be unveiled for another murderous leader from the same regime.

The entombed Ta Mok, known to his victims as "The Butcher," remains a revered figure in Anlong Veng because practically everyone here — from the district chief to the tourism promoter, from the wealthiest businessmen to dirt-poor farmers — was once Khmer Rouge.

This remote, rough-and-ready town is no aberration. Thirty years after the fall of their Maoist regime, former Khmer Rouge officials still run extensive enclaves across northwestern and northern Cambodia. After Anlong Veng, their last holdout, fell in 1998, Khmer Rouge officials abandoned their savage policies and took posts in the new power structure.

They appear unlikely to face justice for alleged crimes during a brutal 1975-1979 reign of terror under which some 2 million died.

"We were the former Khmer Rouge commanders so we knew the area and the people, so after we surrendered we were confident we would get similar positions — in the government, police, the military," explains Pery Saroen, 55, Anlong Veng's deputy district chief, whose superior is also a one-star army general. "When we handed over ourselves, our territory, we became part of the government. We had an agreement with the government and we knew they would forgive us."

An equivalent scenario would have been known Nazi officials and military commanders, some with blood on their hands, serving in 1975 as West Germany's mayors and ministers amid war crimes trials for their leaders.

Only five are expected to face trial. The first, Kaing Guek Eav — better known as Comrade Duch — headed Phnom Penh's notorious S-21 torture center. He is scheduled to testify at the end of the month before a joint international and Cambodian tribunal.

"It's clear that not every Khmer Rouge cadre who carried out killings and crimes is going to come before the tribunal. We don't believe it should stop at the top five most notorious figures. We could do more to bring justice to Cambodians," says Sara Colm of the New York-based Human Rights Watch, echoing criticism of many Cambodians and foreign prosecutors.

Nhem Sarath, with the non-governmental Cambodian Human Rights and Development Association, says villagers outside Khmer Rouge areas often ask why the court doesn't try the many Khmer Rouge suspected of atrocities.

"They also ask us why the powerful leaders now running the country are also not arrested," he says.

Prime Minister Hun Sen, Senate President Chea Sim and National Assembly Chairman Heng Samrin were all Khmer Rouge commanders or officials, and now are unchallenged in their power. Other top positions are filled by their one-time comrades, including Foreign Minister Hor Nam Hong and deputy prime ministers Men Sam On and Keat Chhun, who also holds the finance and economy portfolio.

Although no evidence has come to light implicating Hun Sen, a division commander, in Khmer Rouge crimes, he has sought to narrowly restrict those brought to justice because a number in his government and party are hiding skeletons in their closets.

Among the most notorious is Meah Mut, an ex-Khmer Rouge military official, who is on a prosecution "hit list" of at least five others they want to try. A brigadier general and adviser to the Defense Ministry, he lives in a lovely house amid a fruit orchard in Samlot, about 125 miles from Anlong Veng, in the northwest.

It was to this region that the Khmer Rouge leaders and thousands of followers fled when a Vietnamese invasion force toppled their regime in 1979. While Khmer Rouge in other areas of the country sought to quietly merge back into society, those in the northwest melted into the jungles and mountains to wage guerrilla war until the guns fell silent through an amnesty in 1998, the year Anlong Veng fell, and their leader, Pol Pot, died. All ex-Khmer Rouge in the region express loyalty to Hun Sen and his Cambodian People's Party.

David Chandler, a leading Cambodia historian due to appear as an expert witness at the tribunal, says the deal has proved a "standoff, a trade-off that suits both sides."

"They are not going into dissidence or to secede. They have to behave to a certain extent but Hun Sen is not going to mess with them too much," he says. "I don't think these are dedicated left-wing thinkers or performers. I think they abandoned that and got into the money and the patronage situation and are perfectly happy."

Many of the former Khmer Rouge claim to support the trial of their one-time leaders.

"To be honest, when ex-Khmer Rouge heard that the top five leaders would be tried, they said, 'We don't mind. Let's do it,'" said Nhem En, another district deputy head who was S-21's chief photographer and, like most former Khmer Rouge, points a finger at the leaders while denying any wrongdoing himself.

Ta Mok, who died a prisoner in 2006, is still much admired in Anlong Veng. His mausoleum, copied from ancient Angkorian temples by his rich grandson, will be completed almost to the day that Duch testifies.

"We regarded Ta Mok like a father who takes care of his children. He imposed restrictions and discipline but he gave us food, clothing, places to live," recalls Chat Chay, a poor laborer and former Khmer Rouge soldier. He noted how Ta Mok, whose cruelty was legendary, built roads, a hospital, a bridge and a high school building.

The town's 3,000 schoolchildren are taught nothing about their country's Khmer Rouge past, and only a few posters about the trial have been put around school grounds, says elementary school Vice Principal Reak Smey. He is one of a sizable influx of non-Khmer Rouge from other parts of the country, drawn by the possibility of acquiring land in the sparsely populated area and earning income from a lucrative cross-border trade with nearby Thailand.

"When I first arrived I was worried about having to adapt to life with former Khmer Rouge, but after a few months I discovered their honesty and kindness. The more I lived with them, the better I felt," he says, recalling that the revolutionaries had tried to instill rigid morality, albeit at the point of a gun, during their years in power. Now, he says, their virtues are being eroded by the influence of the newcomers.

Khieu Dum is a wealthy 36-year-old who owns a gas station and money exchange business. He is also the son of Khieu Samphan, who faces charges of crimes against humanity during his time as the Khmer Rouge president. An expensive Lexus sports utility vehicle sits in the son's garage at the dusty crossroads of this district of about 20,000, where the new settlers have had to be friendly because they are the powerless outsiders.

"This is a small and simple place. People just go about their business. The old (Khmer Rouge) people and the newcomers live together amiably. I have never had trouble because of my father," says Khieu Dum.

The Khmer Rouge leaders were off to a head start when the amnesty came, having amassed mini-fortunes during their days as guerrillas through smuggling of timber, gems and antiques to Thailand. Now, the upper echelons own some of the poshest houses and cars in the provinces of Pailin, Preah Vihear, Battambang, Banteay Meanchey and Oddar Meancheay — Cambodia's Khmer Rouge country.

Some have sunk into gross corruption and engage in activities, like gambling, which would have earned them summary execution in the old days. And they have certainly ditched their ideal of a classless society.

In Anlong Veng, a two-class system appears to have emerged: the rich businessmen and government officials living in town and former low-ranking soldiers who barely survive on arid land they don't own in the surrounding countryside. Thus the town witnessed both the final military defeat of the Khmer Rouge and the death of its ideals.

Chat Chay says he joined the movement as a 14-year-old after the Khmer Rouge persuaded him they would liberate the country and create a utopia of neither rich nor poor. Now, he breaks up stones at construction sites, able to use only his right hand since a head wound paralyzed his left side. He earns less than one dollar a day for his family of seven.

"The Khmer Rouge didn't do what they promised. They changed their policies," says the 51-year-old man. "I was wounded but the Khmer Rouge gave me nothing and I have also received nothing from this government."

ASEAN rights body to be launched October

By Veronica Uy

INQUIRER.net
03/27/2009

MANILA, Philippines—The ASEAN Human Rights Body will be launched this October after the terms of reference for its creation is finished by July, Ambassador Rosario Manalo, head of the high-level panel preparing the document, told reporters Friday.

The enabling TOR has already been presented to the foreign ministers of member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and is being revised following their proposals. The creation of the body has been controversial due to the sorry situation of human rights in some ASEAN member-states, particularly Myanmar.

While the TOR contains the purposes, principles of the body, mandates, and functions, defining it as consultative and integral to ASEAN and specifying that each member-state send a representative, Manalo said the body is “evolving” and would not have investigative powers, “not for the moment.”

Eventually, she said, the ASEAN Human Rights Body may develop into such a body. “It is not just there is no political will, there is no capacity to create a court presently. We are still getting acquainted with the idea of human rights. We are beginning to confront human rights issues and internalizing them in our own societies. The TOR is allowing for more evolutionary space,” she said.

Manalo said members of the panel are also preparing the programs of the regional body for the next five years, focusing on both promotion and protection of human rights.

She said they are also meeting next week in Cambodia to finalize funding of the body to support its operations and activities.

Initially, she said, the member-states will be required to give equivalent annual compulsory contributions, but those who can give more—within and outside ASEAN—will be more than welcome.

In the next five years, this TOR that would create the body would be reviewed.

Manalo said the body would not be retroactive, but “prospective.”

Earlier, Ambassador Alistair MacDonald of the European Commission said he is happy with the developments in the creation of the regional body. He said this is a big step from the original idea of simply creating a human rights mechanism within ASEAN.

ASEAN groups together Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.

Southeast Asian culture to receive warm welcome

The Daily Collegian Online
Posted on March 27, 2009

By Beth Kaiserman
Collegian Staff Writer

HUB Alumni Hall will be brightened by tropical Cambodian fruits and golden costumes at the 'Welcome to Cambodia' event Saturday night.

The evening, sponsored by the Khmer Student Society, will feature performances and drinks reflecting Cambodian and Southeast Asian culture in general, Sarun Chan (senior-sociology) said.

"Penn State is used to seeing East Asian which is China, Japan and Korea," Chan said. "This is a good Cambodian-American cultural experience."

The event's attendance has doubled every year since its inception, and about 400 people are expected for this year's event, he said.

The evening will feature "fruits people aren't used to eating," Chan said, as well as tropical fruit drinks.

Carrie Mak (senior-biobehavioral health) liked these drinks when she was younger, she said.

"I think other people will really enjoy it," she said. "It's something they never really had before, but for me I actually grew up with them."

In addition to refreshments, classical ballet and folk dances will be performed, and members of the Khmer Student Society will present video and stage skits, Chan said. A dance troupe is coming from Massachusetts, complete with elaborate Cambodian costumes.

"A lot of these are really technical and religious. Some are actually made of real gold," Chan said.

The Khmer Student Society is a diverse combination of cultures that includes Mexican, Chinese, Italian, Irish-American, Vietnamese and Korean members, Chan said.

"About one-third of the group itself is not Cambodian," Chan said.

Headquarters of Overseas Vietnamese Association in Cambodia inaugurated

VOV News
03/27/2009

The Vietnamese consulate general in Sihanouk ville, Cambodia, on March 27 held an inauguration ceremony for the headquarters of the Overseas Vietnamese Association in the city.

Also on the occasion, the association inaugurated a primary school for children of Vietnamese nationals at a total cost of US$86,000, supported by the Vietnamese Committee for Overseas Vietnamese (COVA) and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The school has just enrolled 50 pupils studying from the 1st to 5th grades. The Vietnamese province of Kien Giang provided VND20 million to buy desks, chairs and books for the pupils there.

There are now 823 Vietnamese households living in Sihanouk ville.

Cambodia Tribunal Web Site to Host Video Footage of Trials

PR Newswire (press release)

Website also provides latest news, information and commentary about the trials

CHICAGO, March 26 /PRNewswire/ -- The Cambodia Tribunal Monitor web site - www.CambodiaTribunal.org - will host ongoing video footage from the long-awaited Khmer Rouge trials, which are scheduled to begin Monday, March 30. On trial will be senior officials of the Khmer Rouge regime for atrocity crimes.

Launched in September 2007 in anticipation of the trials, the Chicago-based Cambodia Tribunal Monitor web site is considered the primary source for information on these historic proceedings. In addition to hosting tape-delayed video footage of the trials, the site will also provide the latest news updates, official documents regarding the trials and regular commentary from leading international experts on the court proceedings as well as on topics such as the recent history of Cambodia, politics, human rights and international law.

From April 1975 to January 1979, an estimated 1.7 million Cambodian citizens died under the Khmer Rouge regime. After nearly 10 years of negotiations, a special war crimes tribunal has commenced near Phnom Penh, Cambodia. The first to face prosecution is Kaing Geuk Eav, also known as "Duch", who allegedly oversaw mass torture and execution in prison camps, including Cambodia's notorious Tuol Sleng, or S-21, camp. The Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC), as the special Cambodian court is formally known, will oversee the proceedings and is a joint partnership of the United Nations and the Royal Government of Cambodia. The trials for additional senior Khmer Rouge officials have not yet been set.

The Cambodia Tribunal Monitor was developed by a consortium of academic, philanthropic and non-profit organizations committed to providing public access to the tribunal and ensuring open discussions throughout the judicial process. The site sponsors include Northwestern University School of Law's Center for International Human Rights, the Documentation Center of Cambodia and the J.B. and M.K. Pritzker Family Foundation.

The Web site concept was conceived by Illinois State Senator Jeff Schoenberg, a Chicago-area legislator who also advises the Pritzker family on its philanthropy.

For more information on the Cambodia Tribunal Monitor web site or to interview internationally renowned legal experts, please call Patrick O'Connor at 312.573.5510 or 512.659.0858.

The Education Sector Has No Quality because the Teacher’s Salaries Are Small and Insufficient to Cover their Daily Livelihood Expenses - Thursday, 26.

Posted on 27 March 2009
The Mirror, Vol. 13, No. 605

“The Cambodian Independent Teachers’ Association conducted a survey in mid 2008 in nine of the 24 provinces around the country with 430 teachers, among whom 23.91% are female, 46.37% of them are primary school teachers where 30.37% are female, 28.26% are secondary school teachers where 23.84% are female, and 25.21% of them are high school teachers where 12.60% are female. All responses honestly expressed accurately the actual facts in their situation as teachers, and the responses leave concerns for youth and for the nation in the future.

“The president of the Cambodian Independent Teacher’s Association, Mr. Rong Chhun, said during a press conference in the morning of 25 March 2009 that according to the findings of the survey about the conditions of teachers and the education sector, the association is worried about the inactivity of about 53.91% of teachers who do not teach regularly. 93.04% of teachers said that the rate of students dropping out of school is high and, 45% consider that the education sector has no quality, and only 52.39% said that the education sector has pretty good quality.

“Mr. Rong Chhun asked the government of Prime Minister Hun Sen to solve some issues as follow:

1- Increase the value of a basic teaching unit for teachers from Riel 720 to Riel 2,000 per unit in 2009 in order to eliminate irregular teaching.

2- Promote quality education to be as good as education elsewhere in the region.

3- Eliminate corruption and poverty to cut down the rate of students dropping out of schools.

4- Create sufficient schools and employment for teachers and for graduate students.

“Mr. Rong Chhun told reporters that based on the findings of the survey, 48% of teachers care to teach their students regularly. They said that they must be responsible for their obligation and role toward students and must have conscience and pity toward Khmer students of the next generations despite facing difficulties in their livelihood and earning improper salaries, making them unable to live and worker better.

“Mr. Rong Chhun stated that 53.91% of teachers are not attending school regularly, and they do not care about their students. As their justification for this unqualified teaching, teachers put the blame on the government that does not increase their salaries enough, so that their daily lives challenge them with difficulties and they have to take part of their time to do other jobs to earn money to support their families. 1.08% do not attend school regularly and do not care about their work and student’s future at all, and they just try to find another job and make some arrangement with school administrators or district and provincial education officials by paying them some kickbacks monthly.

“Mr. Rong Chhun added that in that survey, 6.95% of teachers responded that students do not drop out of schools, claiming that students understand the value of education to be important for their future and that they want to be good citizens in society. He went on to say that 93.4% of teachers said that the rate of students dropping out of school is high and the survey found that 40.85% of primary students drop out of school, 38.55% of secondary students, and 32.64% of high school students. This percentage shows that the education sector falls into a hazardous condition.

“Teachers claim that students drop out of school because of poverty, lack of means for traveling, or finding jobs at factories. Students spend much time to buy lesson handouts, test papers, sweet snacks, and candy from their teachers. Because some teachers take money from students and most teachers do not teach regularly, students drop out of school and lack self-confidence.

“Mr. Rong Chhun continued to say that 2.60% of the teachers responded that the quality of education is good because of the attention of students and because of the efforts of teachers who work without caring about their small or big salaries.

“He added that 52.39% of the teachers assessed that the quality of education is pretty good, and problems exist because students are absent a lot, and take their time out to earn money to support their living.

“45% of the teachers considered that the quality of education is poor, or that it has no quality, because at the schools, there are no proper exams following a set standard plan which would require 95% of the students from a class, in addition the number of students per class is too high, there is a lack of books for students, and there are many types of gambling sites around schools. Teachers earn low salaries, are not satisfied to teach, and spend time to teach additional private classes. The social environment is bad and this attracts students to be corrupt in their education [e.g. They pay some money to their teachers so that not all days when they were absent will be noted down]. If students are poor, teachers do not teach them and care only about their stomach, students are frequently absent and do not want to study because they think that they will not get jobs after they have graduated. This disappoints them.

“At the end the survey pointing out that the [second] principle of the Millennium Development Goals is not followed successfully, which has the aim to ‘ensure that, by 2015, children everywhere, boys and girls alike, will be able to complete a full course of primary schooling,’ though this is also set as the national plan of the Royal Government. To achieve this strategic goal, education for all, and with quality, the Royal Government has to provide proper salaries for teachers, and has to provide sufficient study materials and schools.”

Cheat Khmer, Vol.1, 46, 26.3.2009
Newspapers Appearing on the Newsstand:
Thursday, 26 March 2009

Status of refugees in Cambodia: the government takes over

Ka-set

By Duong Sokha
27-03-2009

In the near future, the procedure which consists of granting the status of refugee to foreigners in Cambodia will not come under the competence of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) as it was the case until now, but under that of the Royal government. As a signatory state of the 1951 Geneva Convention relating to refugees, the Cambodian authorities have a duty to grant political asylum on the Cambodian territory to foreigners who seek it, under certain conditions. Since 1992, the Supreme National Council (SNC) of Cambodia, then presided over by Norodom Sihanouk, delegated that mission to the HCR. The latter “temporarily” took the responsibility of welcoming refugees (Vietnamese, Chinese but also nationals from African states...) on the Cambodian territory. In order to comply with the convention it signed, the Cambodian government has just finished the first draft of a sub-decree, in collaboration with the Phnom Penh office of the HCR. The text, however, will not apply to Vietnamese Montagnards who are now placed under the protection of the HCR in a camp in the Cambodian capital.

A governmental sub-decree issued to conform to the Refugee Convention
Late 2008, the head of the Cambodian government and the High Commissioner for Refugees (HCR), based in Geneva, agreed on the elaboration of the draft sub-decree to determine the procedures related to the granting of the status of refugees in Cambodia. The decision allows the Cambodian state to conform to the 1951 Geneva Convention relating to the Status of Refugees , which it signed in September 1992, as detailed by the national Cambodian police deputy general commissioner Sok Phal, in charge of the dossier.

The Convention, elaborated in the aftermath of World War II, defines the terms according to which a signatory state must grant the status of refugee to people who seek it, as well as the rights and duties of those persons on its territory.

According to the Cambodian high-ranking official, the Ministry of Interior of the Kingdom of Cambodia entrusted the department of immigration of the national police general commissariat with the drafting of the sub-decree, the first draft of which was completed on March 17th with the participation of the Phnom Penh office of the HCR. “The important points which must be addressed in this draft sub-decree aim at harmonising [the welcoming procedures for foreigners in Cambodia] with the 1951 Refugee Convention. For instance, asylum seekers have a right to ask for some help in order to know the legal aspects in force in Cambodia, they are entitled to ask for a translation as well as means of communication with the Cambodian authorities with a view to seek the status of refugee. The implementation of all those rights are therefore stipulated in the text”, Sok Phal details, adding that the first draft will soon be submitted to the national police general commissariat and the Ministry of Interior for examination, before being sent to the Council of Ministers for adoption.

HCR satisfied with new dispositions
The Phnom Penh office of the HCR, Lieutenant General Sok Phal says, contributed to the elaboration of the draft of the sub-decree and added comments, drawn from the experience of the office, to clearly define terms and establish acceptable procedures, as much for the Cambodian side as for the international side. The representative of the HCR in Phnom Penh, Thamrongsak Meechubot, who took part in the examining of the text with the Cambodian authorities, logically welcomed the draft of the sub-decree, through which Cambodia intends to respect its commitments and duties, as defined in the 1951 Convention. “We are happy about the content of the draft and did not see any problem in it, the Thai representative for the UN organisation in Phnom Penh explains, eagerly waiting for the adoption and enforcement of the text.

Nick Henderson, a jurist working for the NGO Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS), an international organisation which provides refugees with legal help and has been in Cambodia for fifteen years, was aware of the draft sub-decree, but did not have a chance to discover the content of it. “We requested a copy of the completed sub-decree from the government, with a view to provide the Cambodian authorities and the HCR with constructive recommendations, if necessary, and to establish the future law, the best possible one. We are hoping that the sub-decree will offer protection and real rights to refugees in Cambodia”, the Irish expert commented.

Decision-making power in the hands of the government
As it is generally the case in other countries, the final decision to grant asylum to refugees will come, if this text is adopted, under the competence of the Cambodian government and not that of the HCR. Conditions for the granting of the status of refugee are clearly defined in the 1951 Convention and the Cambodian state will therefore comply with it, as stated by Sok Phal. “This sub-decree is simply the implementation of the right of Cambodia as a sovereign country, to autonomous decision making. The only persons entitled to the status of refugee are those who suffer from persecutions in their own country, such as victims of political pressure; but victims of economic problems are not entitled to that status”, the deputy general commissioner, who is also a personal adviser to Cambodian prime Minister Hun Sen.

According to the application procedure for refugee status stipulated in the draft sub-decree, foreigners who enter Cambodia with a valid visa will be allowed to contact the department of immigration of the national police general commissariat, where they will obtain an application form they will be asked to fill in. “Once the sub-decree is in force, the government will ask the Ministry of Interior to issue this form, which [asylum seekers] will fill in like they would fill in a wedding form, without going via the HCR. After the dossier is submitted, we will send a copy of it to the HCR, with the applicant’s biography and wishes, because the HCR has expertise [on those questions] and provides financial aid for the settlement [of refugees]”, Sok Phal details.

Which refugees?
The policeman adds that the text will not apply to Khmer people from Kampuchea Krom, a region which is now located on the Vietnamese territory and where most of the population speaks Khmer. They are fully considered as Khmer ever since former King Norodom Sihanouk signed a Royal decree. “Khmer people from Kampuchea Krom who come to settle in Cambodia do not need to apply for the status of refugee”, he says, “but they have a duty to conform to laws, as Cambodians, particularly by having a family record book”.

This was a subtle allusion to criticism which the Vietnamese and Cambodian governments are faced with, on the part of organisations for the defence of Human rights. A Human Rights Watch report released in 2009 denounced the useless obstacles which Khmer Krom encounter when they try to legalise their status in Cambodia, and the violence suffered by those who express their criticism of the Vietnamese authorities. The report particularly pointed out repression carried out during demonstrations against Khmer Krom monks who denounced the infringement of their Human rights in Vietnam, and the arrest of a Khmer Krom activist monk in June 2007, followed by his deportation to Vietnam where he was condemned to a year of imprisonment.

Vietnamese Montagnards not concerned
Still according to Sok Phal, the draft sub-decree will not apply to Vietnamese Montagnards – the name often given to local ethnic minorities living in the plateaus of central Vietnam - , now placed under the protection of the HCR in Phnom Penh, but whose fate will be determined by further discussions between the Cambodian authorities and the HCR.

In February 2001, several thousand members of local minorities in those mountainous regions of Vietnam, mostly Christians, launched a series of peaceful demonstrations claiming their independence and the return to their ancestral land and the freedom of religion. Thos demonstrations were violently suppressed by the Vietnamese government. It is from then on that these Vietnamese Montagnards started crossing the North-East border with Cambodia (Ratanakiri and Mondulkiri) to escape persecutions by the Vietnamese authorities. Some of them were finally repatriated by force after they were denied the status of refugee.

“Concerning Montagnards, we have a memorandum or understanding which was signed in [January] 2005 by Cambodia, Vietnam and the HCR in Hanoi. It is implemented in a very efficient way. This is why there is not a single divergence between Vietnam and the HCR”, the Lieutenant General says.

With this memorandum of understanding, Vietnam commits not to mistreat or discriminate repatriated Montagnards and allow HCR delegations to visit them in the Plateaus region, in central Vietnam, so their living conditions could still be followed-up after their repatriation, whereas before, Human rights observers, journalists or private investigators used to be denied access to that region as it was strictly controlled by the Vietnamese authorities.

Straight towards the United States
“The number of entries for Montagnards [in Cambodia] has being going down since mid-2008. We now know that the HCR has the possibility of going directly to Vietnam, which is a lot more open to them. [Montagnards] do not need to flee Cambodia but can directly be in touch with the HCR to go to the United States. It is better like this”, Sok Phal says. The personal adviser to prime Minister Hun Sen asserts that therefore, this is not a “sensitive” topic.

According to HCR representative in Phnom Penh Thamrongsak Meechubot, 148 Vietnamese Montagnards are still installed today in a HCR camp in Phnom Penh, and among them, most have obtained the status of refugee. Since 2001, more than a thousand Montagnards have gone to the United States.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The status of “refugee” clearly managed
According to the Geneva Convention relating to the Status of Refugees (1951), a refugee is classified as a person who “owing to well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality and is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country (…)”

The full text of the 1951 Geneva Convention relating to the Status of Refugees is available on the website of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees

Ballet flourishes once again in Cambodia

TopNews.in

Submitted by Sahil Nagpal
Fri, 03/27/2009

Phnom Penh - The elegant woman has dainty hands and long, narrow feet. Her limbs are incredibly limber - she easily bends back her fingers until they touch her forearm, her toes at a 90-degree angle - the results of decades of training and dedication.

Vong Metry, 56, has been a classical dancer since the age of 5, an occupation that carried a death sentence after 1975, when Cambodia's murderous Khmer Rouge regime overran the country, killing almost everyone who was not a farmer or worker.

Centuries of knowledge about Cambodia's traditional dances, which are full of history and legend, were almost buried with the victims in the Khmer Rouge's mass graves.

Vong Metry was one of the few survivors of the purge. Today, working with the Apsara Dance Association, she helps to continue the tradition of Cambodia's dancers.

Back then, she was part of the country's dance elite, studying and dancing in Cambodia's royal palace in the 1960s.

"For the Khmer Rouge, our talent was an aesthetic waste," she said about the horrifying rule of the communists who killed almost 2 million people by torture, executions, starvation and forced labour during their four-year rule.

"When they marched into Phnom Penh, they immediately chased us out of the palace, and we ran for our lives," she recalled.

At that time, Vong Metry was heavily pregnant and lost her baby after the forced march to the provinces. But there was no time to mourn.

"I had to work like a horse," she said, wringing her slender hands over the memory. The dancer pretended to be a farmer and ploughed fields, pulled weeds, planted crops and milked livestock.

Training, even secretly, was out of the question. "There were Khmer Rouge spies everywhere," she said, sitting up ramrod straight and rapping her chest. "I carried the music and the dance only here, in my heart."

Cambodia's classical dance is also called Apsara, after the nymph-like beauties who, according to legend, danced in the palaces of the gods and are immortalized in thousands of carvings at the temples of Angkor Wat.

Srilang, 7, one of Vong Metry's favourite pupils at the dancing school, wants to become just such a nymph.

Well-behaved, she knelt, only her toes supporting her feet and the soles of her feet upright and perfectly straight.

Vong Metry sat behind her and moved the girl's arms into the typical graceful movements of the dance.

"More tension," she murmured in her pupil's ear again and again and touched her thighs.

With the play of those muscles alone, the best dancers can create a subtle swaying movement when in that position.

"Srilang has a lot of talent," Vong Metry said. "She learns fast, remembers a lot and works hard. If she keeps learning for another five or six years, she can get really good."

Choreographer Sophiline Cheam Shapiro has dedicated herself to the preservation and revival of Cambodian classical dance, too. A half-hour drive out of Phnom Penh, she and her troupe offer ballet at its finest.

Performing on an open-air stage under five towers in the Angkor-style, the dancers wear golden costumes and the typical elaborate headdresses.

Their movements - deliberate and at the same time light as feathers - are a feast for the eye.

Their expressive hands alone, the blossom-like fingers bent backwards at incredible angles, hypnotize the audience.

Cheam Shapiro created a version of Mozart's Magic Flute, Cambodian style. Surrounded by a small orchestra of xylophones, drums and oboes, the Queen of the Night becomes Sayon Reachny, Prince Tamino turns into Preah Chhapoun and Papageno into Noreak.

But apart from the names, the love story unfolds along the well-known lines.

Cheam Shapiro angrily rejected claims by purists that this constitutes treachery against the classical art.

"Cambodian dance is like a mother who has many children," she said. "We can protect the traditional repertoire as well as create new dances in the classical style and experiment with contemporary pieces."

She and her US-born husband founded the Khmer Arts Institute, which aims at researching and archiving the still existing repertoire.

"But, of course, we don't know how much was lost," Cheam Shapiro said. (dpa)

Missing soldier's family finds clues to his fate in Cambodia

ERICH SCHLEGEL/SPECIAL CONTRIBUT / 138869
Mary Nolan holds a photo of her husband, McKinley Nolan, as son Rodger looks out the door of his mother's home in Texas. McKinley Nolan vanished from his Vietnam unit on Nov. 9, 1967.

THE SEATTLE TIMES (seattletimes.nwsource.com)

On Nov. 9, 1967, weeks from completing a two-year hitch in the Army, McKinley Nolan disappeared from his 1st Infantry Division unit. Communist Viet Cong propaganda broadcasts and leaflets later featured him urging fellow black soldiers to lay down their weapons.By Gregg Jones
The Dallas Morning News

DALLAS — McKinley Nolan's letters from South Vietnam to his wife in Texas hinted at his anguish. He wrote of playing dead to survive on the battlefield and the suffering of Vietnamese civilians.

"He was just telling me how bad it was over there, all the fighting, all the killing," Mary Nolan said.

There was no clue of what was to come.

On Nov. 9, 1967, weeks from completing a two-year hitch in the Army, McKinley Nolan disappeared from his 1st Infantry Division unit. Communist Viet Cong propaganda broadcasts and leaflets later featured him urging fellow black soldiers to lay down their weapons.

The Army branded Nolan as one of the war's two confirmed defectors but offered no explanation as to why he deserted or what happened to him.

Joining forces

McKinley's younger brother, Michael, has joined forces with a New Jersey journalist, a Vietnam War veteran, a New York filmmaker, a Hollywood star and a Houston congresswoman in hopes of unraveling the mystery.

Their efforts last month pushed the Pentagon's MIA search unit, the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC), to act on a witness's account and dig for McKinley Nolan's remains in a Cambodian village.

Michael Nolan, of Austin, flew to Cambodia to watch the U.S. team chip away at the Cambodian clay. It was the latest stop in a long journey to understand who his missing brother was: a deserter who turned his back on his country and his family or a hero who stood up to the Viet Cong and Khmer Rouge and paid with his life.

The Nolan case long has fascinated POW-MIA aficionados. It spawned such varied tales as Nolan quietly slipping home to Washington County, Texas, to his living the high life in Cuba as a guest of Fidel Castro.

"In the world of the conspiratorial POW-MIA guys, McKinley Nolan is like Bigfoot," said journalist Richard Linnett, who has spent years tracking missing Americans in Cambodia. "He's spotted everywhere."

As a rifleman in the Army's 16th Infantry Regiment, Nolan was based in Tay Ninh province, near the border with Cambodia. A Pentagon document shows he earned a Purple Heart and a Combat Infantry Badge.

The Army didn't respond to questions for this article.

By November 1967, Nolan was one of about 500,000 U.S. military personnel in Vietnam. A poll that fall found that 46 percent of Americans believed U.S. military involvement in Vietnam was a mistake. Black soldiers openly questioned why they should die for South Vietnamese freedom when they were denied equal rights at home.

If McKinley Nolan shared those sentiments, he didn't tell his wife.

"If he had a job, he did it," she said.

But Nolan's commitment to the Army was flagging. He was AWOL — absent without leave — from Sept. 7 to Nov. 6, 1967, according to the Pentagon document.

He was jailed for two days. Then, on Nov. 9, the 22-year-old disappeared.

Mary Nolan said the Army revealed little about her husband's disappearance. Months passed before she received a letter stating that Nolan had defected to Viet Cong forces, she said.

In January 1975, three months before the war ended, the Army notified her that her husband had been seen alive in Cambodia.

In 1992, a U.S. military team thought it had found Nolan's remains in Cambodia. But DNA tests proved negative.

Eight years later, Linnett, of Newark, N.J., stumbled onto Nolan's trail. Linnett was working on a book about a 1970 mutiny aboard an American freighter transporting napalm to U.S. forces in Thailand. One of the two mutineers, Clyde McKay, sought refuge with Khmer Rouge guerrillas and later was executed.

Linnett was searching for McKay's grave site in eastern Cambodia when a local resident pulled him aside. The villager told Linnett an intriguing story about a black GI who supposedly lived in the area during the time of the Khmer Rouge.

A Pentagon investigator told Linnett the villager was talking about McKinley Nolan.

"I thought this story was truly amazing," Linnett said. "This guy had lived with the Viet Cong and the Khmer Rouge."

Linnett pried loose U.S. military-intelligence documents and began sharing information with Michael and Mary Nolan.

Mysterious appearance

In 2006, Michael Nolan phoned Linnett with incredible news.

"He said, 'Richard, someone saw McKinley in Vietnam,' " Linnett recounted.

That someone was a Vietnam veteran named Dan Smith, and he had contacted the Washington County sheriff in search of Nolan's family.

Linnett was skeptical. He phoned Smith, a retired Pacific Northwest 911 operator who said he had lost a leg serving with the 1st Infantry Division in Vietnam. In 2005, he made one of his periodic trips to Vietnam to deliver medical supplies.

In the city of Tay Ninh, near the Cambodian border, Smith encountered a black man, about 60, with rotted teeth and jaundiced eyes. The man said he had served with the 1st Infantry Division in 1967.

When Smith mentioned he was going home soon, the stranger sighed.

"Man, I wish I could go home," he said.

"Where's home?" Smith asked.

"Washington, Texas," the man replied.

Smith reported the encounter to U.S. officials, and the Pentagon MIA search unit sent an investigator to his home. Smith said he picked two photographs of McKinley Nolan out of a mugshot book.

Afterward, Smith said the investigator refused to take his calls. So did the MIA unit.

But Linnett heard him out, and he arranged for Smith to tell his story in person to the Nolans.

Meanwhile, Linnett had piqued the curiosity of New York documentary filmmaker Henry Corra. When Smith arrived in Washington-on-the-Brazos, Texas, to meet the Nolans, Corra's camera was rolling.

After a tearful meeting with the Nolan family, Smith vowed to return to Southeast Asia to find the GI.

Trips to Cambodia came next, first Smith alone, then with Michael Nolan, Linnett and Corra. Smith became convinced the man he encountered in Tay Ninh was another U.S. deserter who had assumed Nolan's identity.

But the search continued, financed in part by actor Danny Glover, who agreed to produce Corra's documentary on the search for McKinley Nolan.

The group tracked the GI to a village outside the town of Memot, in eastern Cambodia, where a man named Cham Son recalled Nolan's life during the tumult of war and Khmer Rouge genocide.

Nolan's missing years emerged from the mists.

Friendly guy

When he arrived in Vietnam in 1966, Nolan was happily married, the father of a 2-year-old son. He was a friendly, muscular guy who loved baseball and horses.

By the time he disappeared in 1967, he had grown disillusioned with the war, said Linnett, citing interviews with Nolan's friends in Vietnam and Cambodia.

A Vietnamese girlfriend "convinced him to go with her," Linnett said.

It's unclear whether Nolan willingly worked with the Viet Cong, Linnett said.

In any event, Nolan grew disenchanted with the group and in 1973 slipped into Cambodia with his Vietnamese wife and their baby, Linnett said.

In eastern Cambodia, Nolan drove a truck and farmed, local residents told Linnett and Smith. When the Khmer Rouge took over in 1975 and emptied cities to return Cambodia to "Year Zero," Nolan was forced to move to a village deeper in the jungle.

"Because of his size and strength, they made him pull an ox cart loaded with people being taken to an interrogation center," Smith said. "Villagers said he would beg for their forgiveness."

Nolan told jokes and sang songs in pidgin Cambodian to lift people's spirits.

"He would literally step in front of guards to keep them from beating people," Smith said. "McKinley was a hero. Everybody there loved him."

In 1977, the villager Cham Son recounted, Khmer Rouge soldiers took Nolan away.

"He saw McKinley being marched off," Linnett said, "and knew when the soldiers came back without him that he had been killed."

Comfort in answers

In April 2008, after hearing that account, Linnett and his comrades gave the Pentagon's MIA search unit precise information on the suspected grave site.

Last month, after the Nolans enlisted the help of Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas, a JPAC team began excavating the site identified by Cham Son.

The team dug for two weeks in February but found no remains, said Air Force Lt. Col. Wayne Perry, JPAC spokesman. Cham Son, noting the terrain had changed, said he wasn't sure of the precise burial spot, Perry said.

The Nolans and Linnett, with Lee's help, are trying to force the Pentagon to release McKinley Nolan's personnel file and classified documents on the case. Linnett and Corra are tracking leads that they believe will lead to Nolan's remains in eastern Cambodia.

Mary Nolan, 62, never remarried. She believes the government should compensate her for her husband's loss.

"I should have been given a good explanation as to what happened, when, why," she said.

After years of anger at "the system" for taking his brother away, Michael Nolan said he found peace retracing McKinley's footsteps and seeing him through the eyes of Cambodian villagers who revered him.

"Whether he's dead or alive," Nolan said, "I feel he would be happy that we're bringing the truth to light."

Freedom sought for villagers

Photo by: TOM HUNTER
Villagers, shot during an eruption of violence in a land dispute in Siem Reap, in Provincial Hosptial on Thursday.

The Phnom Penh Post

Written by Cheang Sokha and Michael Fox
Friday, 27 March 2009

SIEM REAP

THE defence lawyer for nine Siem Reap villagers arrested during violent confrontations with police Sunday has asked the court to release the men pending trial.

Defence counsel Kao Soupha said Thursday he requested that the provincial court release the nine men, accused of committing robbery during the weekend's events, because they are innocent of wrongdoing.

In a letter to the court, Kao Soupha pledged that the detained would fulfill all necessary release conditions and would not complicate any of the court's investigations into the matter.

The nine were arrested when police clashed with villagers in the province's Chi Kraeng district Sunday following the escalation of a local dispute over 92 hectares of farmland contested by groups of villagers from two neighbouring communes.

"They have been wrongly accused," he said. "The most important thing is for the authorities to determine who is the owner of the land."

Luon Meat, 29, who was shot in the leg by police during the weekend's confrontation, said the land dispute erupted around four years ago.

"Villagers each claimed to occupy the land, and the dispute simmered until violence erupted when the police fired," he said, while recovering at Siem Reap Provincial Hospital.

Ty Sovinthal, a prosecutor at the Siem Reap provincial court, confirmed it had received the release request and said the investigating judge would rule on it within five days. "If [he rejects it] the defence lawyer has the right to appeal," he said.

Am Sam Ath, a monitor for the Cambodian rights group Licadho, said on Thursday 44 Chi Kraeng villagers traveled to Prime Minister Hun Sen's house in Takhmao, Kandal province, seeking his help to resolve the land dispute and expel Siem Reap Governor Sou Phirin.

New UN rights envoy chosen

Photo by: FILE PHOTO Former UN human rights envoy Yash Ghai, who resigned his post in September after an acrimonious three-year posting.

IN FOCUS UN envoys

- 1993-1996 Michael Kirby (Australia)
- 1996-2000 Thomas Hammarberg (Sweden)
- 2001-2005 Peter Leuprecht (Austria)
- 2005-2008 Yash Ghai (Kenya)
- 2009- Surya Prasad Subedi (Nepal)

The Phnom Penh Post

Written by Sebastian Strangio and Neth Pheaktra
Friday, 27 March 2009

THE United Nations has formally appointed its new special rapporteur for human rights to Cambodia, prompting civil society concerns that the official will face the same hostile reception as his predecessor.

At a meeting in Geneva Wednesday, the UN's Human Rights Council chose Nepal's Surya Prasad Subedi to fill the post, which has been vacant since his predecessor Yash Ghai's bitter resignation in September. Subedi will be the fifth person to occupy the position since 1993.

In a statement issued by the council on Wednesday, Sun Suon, head of the Cambodian Permanent Mission to the UN, was reported as saying the government welcomed the appointment of Subedi - a former Oxford professor and recipient of the Order of the British Empire - and expressed hopes he will perform his duties in "a spirit of cooperation and good partnership".

But following government dismissals of the US State Department's annual rights report, which the Ministry of Foreign Affairs this month slammed as hypocritical and politically motivated, rights groups say Subedi's treatment will be a litmus test of the government's credibility on human rights issues.

"If the government has the good will to respect human rights, they should cooperate with the new representative," said Human Rights Party President Kem Sokha.

"I supported Yash Ghai, and I hope that [Subedi] can work with the government to improve human rights."

During his three-year stint as envoy to Cambodia, Ghai - a lawyer from Kenya - was publicly attacked by Prime Minister Hun Sen and other officials for his unusually blunt critiques of the government's rights record. In September, he resigned his post in anger, harshly rebuking the government for its lack of commitment on human rights issues.

But Ou Virak, president of the Cambodian Centre for Human Rights, said that each of the UN's human rights envoys had received similar treatment from the government, and that anything different would be a break from standard practice.

"I'm not sure how they will treat the new representative, but I would imagine that [treating him] like that again would be a bad reflection on [the government]," he said.

He added that the government's calls for "dialogue" were increasingly meaningless, and said that it seemed to allow nothing but the mildest criticisms about human rights violations.

"If that's what the government expects, it's not what they're going to get from the US State Department or any UN body," he said.

Senior CPP lawmaker Cheam Yeap said the ruling party was very open to working with Subedi, but warned that he should "check his information" before writing reports criticising the Cambodian government.

"He should not write reports based on information from opposition parties or NGOs that don't like the Cambodian government," he said Thursday, adding that Yash Gai's criticisms - distributed around the world - had tainted the government's image.

"We would not like people to admire us, but we would like them to write the truth about Cambodia. We will welcome his recommendations if they are correct and help Cambodia in the best possible way."

Information Minister Khieu Kanharith and Om Yentieng, senior minister and head of the government-run Human Rights Committee, were not available for comment Thursday.

But Lao Mong Hay of the Asian Human Rights Commission said the terms of the 1991 Paris Peace Accords pledged the government to work with the UN to improve the human rights situation throughout the Kingdom.

"Through hostility towards the field office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and ... the special representative, Cambodia showed that it is not sincere in its pledges to the Paris Peace Agreements," he said in an interview with the Post last month.

International obligations aside, he said that having a neutral voice could help push forward human rights issues in Cambodia.

"The Cambodian nation can swing like a pendulum from one extreme to another," he said.

"A third party can help restrain us."

Further Thai troop incursions in Veal Antri

The Phnom Penh Post

Written by Thet Sambath
Friday, 27 March 2009

A GROUP of 30 Thai soldiers withdrew Thursday from Veal Antri near Preah Vihear temple just four hours after crossing the disputed border, an officer with the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces (RCAF) told the Post.

That followed an incident on Wednesday when military officials said about 100 Thai soldiers crossed into Cambodian territory before heading back to Thailand.

"Our soldiers urged them to go back, and they finally left at midday," Khim Eung, an officer in RCAF's Brigade 8, said, referring to Thursday's incident.

"They asked us if they could set up a base at the White Zone where they had set up tents on Wednesday, but our soldiers refused permission," he said.

"We told them their tents would be removed, either by us or they could take them away themselves. They took them back to their base," he added.

The White Zone is an RCAF term for the disputed parts of the border between the neighbouring countries.

‘Always' trying to set up base
An RCAF officer stationed at Preah Vihear temple, who said he was not authorised to talk to the press about the border issue, told the Post by phone on Thursday that the Thai military "always tries to set up bases here and there along the border - they continually do this".

Yim Phim, the commander of Brigade 8, confirmed Thursday that all of the Thai soldiers had left and the situation was back to normal in the area surrounding Preah Vihear temple.

He said the Thai soldiers had only briefly entered the White Zone.

US, Australia assist in drugs case

Photo by: HENG CHIVOAN
UN and government officials set fire to the last major batch of seized drugs and precursor chemicals in 2008.

The Phnom Penh Post

Written by Chhay Channyda and Georgia Wilkins
Friday, 27 March 2009

Foreign anti-drugs specialists come to Kingdom to help national police identify ten chemicals found after two tonnes of illegal substances seized in raids on four drugs laboratories.

UNITED States and Australian police are working with Cambodian anti-drugs specialists to test illicit substances seized in a major drug raid last weekend, officials said Thursday.

In one of the most significant raids of the past two years, national police confiscated more than 2 tonnes of illegal substances from four drugs laboratories over the weekend in three different provinces. Four people were arrested.

Moek Dara, the director of the Anti-Trafficking Department at the Ministry of Interior, said the laboratories were in possession of nearly a dozen different illicit chemicals.

"This raid didn't happen by chance. Cambodian police have investigated this for three months, but now we need the assistance of US and Australian anti-drugs experts because there are up to 10 different kinds of chemicals that are outside our testing capacity," he told the Post Thursday.

Ephedra seized
Moek Dara said the most common chemical seized was ephedra, a precursor chemical used in the manufacture of methamphetamine. Moek Dara said the precursor was probably imported in December from either China or the Middle East.

"What we are doing now is separating likely hazardous chemicals from knownhazardous ones because we don't know what kinds of chemicals they are, " Moek Dara added.

John Johnson, a spokesman for the US embassy, confirmed Thursday that an agent from the US anti-drugs agency was headed to Phnom Penh to assist with the investigation.

"At the request of the Cambodian government, the Drug Enforcement Agency is sending an agent to provide support to the national police, who are taking the lead in this investigation," he said. "[But] as this is an open investigation, we can't discuss any other details at this time."

Fiona Cochaud, deputy head of mission and first secretary at the Australian embassy, told the Post that five experts from the Australian Federal Police were working to "assess and dismantle clandestine chemical laboratories located in Phnom Penh, Kampong Cham and Takeo [provinces]."

Cambodians Sieng Lonh, 52, and Khun Sam, 53, were arrested last weekend along with two Chinese men, Mi Guang, 52, and Gao Xiao Ging, 36, in three different drugs laboratory raids in Kampong Cham and Phnom Penh. Police also raided a laboratory in Takeo province, but the suspect had already fled.

Local media sources reported Thursday that the laboratories had the capacity to produce drugs with a street value estimated at some US$3 billion, but Moek Dara refuted that.

"We cannot estimate the value [of the haul] because we don't yet know how many kilograms of chemicals there were," he said.

KRT judges post old documents on web

The Phnom Penh Post

Written by Georgia Wilkins
Friday, 27 March 2009

In response to criticism that it was not allowing for transparency, judges have posted old filings.

INVESTIGATING judges at Cambodia's war crimes court have made several old documents public in response to criticisms last month that their office was not maximising transparency at the court.

The documents, all of which relate to the legal doctrine of "joint criminal enterprise", were placed on the court's official website Thursday along with a number of other documents filed at the court.

In a press release the same day, judges said the documents were made public "with the aim of improving public information while respecting the protection of privacy and the presumption of innocence", and that there would be more available in the future.

Response to criticism
Last month, judges threatened lawyers for former leader Ieng Sary with sanctions if they did not remove documents, most of them marked "public", from their website.

In response, the lawyers accused judges of using the court's confidentiality rules to deliberately suppress documents, saying the public had the right to be informed of every step the court makes.

Michael Karnavas, a co-lawyer for Ieng Sary, said the judge's most recent response was a case of "too little, too late".

"Obviously, the [Office of Co-Investigating Judges] fails to grasp the essence of transparency," he told the Post via email.

"When you see what is now being made public, one has to question their reasoning for keeping these submissions hidden from public scrutiny. Also, why has the OCIJ not moved to make truly non-confidential submissions public?" he added.

SRP letter calls for investigation into alleged electrity theft

The Phnom Penh Post

Written by Meas Sokchea
Friday, 27 March 2009

Three parliamentarians say three branches of an ice supplier have been underpaying for electricity used to run their machines.

IN A letter addressed to Minister of Industry, Mines and Energy Suy Sem, three parliamentarians from the opposition Sam Rainsy Party have called for an investigation into the ice supplier Super Ice, which they said has been stealing state electricity.

In the March 16 letter, the parliamentarians - Ly Sreyvyna, Khim Laky and Men Sothavarin - allege that the owners of three different branches of the ice supplier have been underpaying for the electricity used to run their machinery.

Two of the branches are located in Phnom Penh, in Tuol Kork and Russey Keo districts, and one is located in Takhmao district, Kandal province. The letter does not identify the owners, and efforts to obtain these names from Super Ice were unsuccessful.

Officials from Super Ice have repeatedly refused to speak to Post reporters.

The letter alleges that Electricite du Cambodge (EdC) officials are complicit in the ongoing theft.

The letter does not say when the alleged theft began, nor does it place a specific monetary value on the electricity allegedly being stolen, asserting only that "thousands" of US dollars have been stolen per month.

The SRP parliamentarians first sent the letter to National Assembly President Heng Samrin, who signed it on March 23. A copy of the letter was given to journalists Thursday.

Limited information
Khim Laky told the Post Thursday that he did not know when the alleged theft began or the value of the electricity that has allegedly been stolen.

Suy Sem could not be reached for comment Thursday. Two secretaries of state at the ministry, Ith Praing and Khlaut Randy, both said they could not comment on the letter because they had not seen it.

EdC Director General Keo Rattanak declined to comment. But a senior EdC official who spoke on condition of anonymity said he would not be surprised if such a theft was being perpetrated, though he said he doubted the theft, if it was indeed occurring, was very large.

Questions on HIV added to driver's licence examination

Photo by: Tracey Shelton
Cambodian Sport Compact Club, who's motto is "Drive Safely, Sex Safely", are ahead of an ADB effort to add HIV into driving tests.

The Phnom Penh Post

Written by Chhay Channyda and Mom Kunthear
Friday, 27 March 2009

As Cambodia's roads improve, efforts are being made to raise awareness of HIV/AIDS, particularly among truck drivers.

THE government later this year is to add questions about HIV/AIDS into the written driver's licence test, in a project backed by the Asian Development Bank. The goal is to increase AIDS awareness among professional drivers, particularly truck drivers.

The test will contain a dozen questions about the virus. Around 2,000 people apply to the Ministry of Public Works and Transport for driving licences each month, said Keo Savin at the Land Transport Department, adding that there are 1.14 million registered cars and motorbikes, and 405,000 registered drivers.

Ung Chun Hour, the Public Works Ministry's director general of transport, said Wednesday that his ministry, in collaboration with the National AIDS Authority at the Ministry of Health, is working to finalise the questions.

"This marks the first time questions about HIV/AIDS have been included in a driving test," he said. "It is important that drivers - particularly professional drivers - know about HIV/AIDS. Professional truck drivers live far from home and are more likely to use sex partners."

The current driver's licence test has questions on driving techniques and the rules of the road, and others on first aid to help accident victims.

AIDS Authority: ‘logical step'
Dr Teng Kunthy, the secretary general of the National Aids Authority, said the decision to include questions about the disease into the driving test was logical given that the country's roads were improving, and that meant more truckers would be using Cambodia's roads and those of neighbouring countries.

"We are worried that when they stop along their route, they often look for sex partners - that's why we want to educate them during their driving test, so they know to take care of themselves," he said.

Teng Kunthy said that the next stage would be to educate the people who live on the busiest trucking routes.

"We want them to protect them from getting infected with HIV because although we don't have brothels, most sex workers now work at nightclubs or other places that we worry will offer sex services on the route," he said.

The country's HIV prevalence has declined in recent years and was 0.7 percent in 2008, said Dr Teng Kunthy.

SRP to mark bloody attack

Photo by: TRACEY SHELTON
SRP leader Sam Rainsy at a memorial last year for victims of the 1997 grenade attack. On Monday, the SRP will mark the 12th anniversary of the attack, for which no one has yet been brought to justice.

The Phnom Penh Post

Written by Vong Sokheng
Friday, 27 March 2009

Opposition representatives say 1997 grenade attack will be marked with a commemorative ceremony at the site of the bloodshed Monday morning.

THE opposition Sam Rainsy Party is to hold a memorial Monday to mark the 12th anniversary of the 1997 grenade attacks that left at least 16 dead and more than 100 injured at a peaceful rally in Phnom Penh.

Sam Rainsy Party Secretary General Ke Sovannroth said the event would help highlight the fact that more than a decade since the attack, the Cambodian government has made no progress in bringing its perpetrators to justice.

"Twelve years on, no one has been tried for their crimes against [the SRP's] peaceful demonstration, and the government has never identified the perpetrators or found justice for the victims," she said.

Ke Sovannroth said the commemorative rally, to be held at the memorial stupa marking the place where the attack took place, would include victims of the attacks and their families.

On March 30, 1997, a crowd of about 200 supporters of the opposition Khmer Nation Party (KNP), led by former Finance Minister Sam Rainsy, gathered in the public park across the street from the then National Assembly to denounce the corruption and lack of independence of the judicial system.

In a coordinated attack, four grenades were thrown into the crowd, killing protesters and bystanders, including children, and blowing limbs off street vendors.

After the first grenade exploded, Sam Rainsy's bodyguard, Han Muny, threw himself on top of his leader. He took the full force of a subsequent grenade and died at the scene. Rainsy escaped with a minor leg injury.

The KNP had received official permission from both the Ministry of the Interior and the Phnom Penh Municipality to hold a peaceful demonstration on the day of the attack.

Sustained impunity
Sam Rainsy, now president of the SRP, said that the attackers, like the senior leaders of the Khmer Rouge, had enjoyed total impunity for their actions.

"The leaders of the Khmer Rouge regime killed millions of Cambodian people and the tribunal has still not found justice for the victims," he said, adding that there was little hope of bringing the perpetrators of the grenade attack to justice.

"But we will not forget it. We will hold memorials every year in order to ensure that justice is done," he added.

Information Minister Khieu Kanharith said that three suspects were identified by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation, which reported that one died and one disappeared during the factional fighting of July 1997, while another remained on the run from authorities.

"The FBI is still helping us, and we have never closed the case," he said. "As long as we can wait, we will try to shine a light on the perpetrators."

But Ou Virak, president of the Cambodian Centre for Human Rights, said that the government had no real commitment to bringing the perpetrators to justice because the victims were largely supporters of the SRP.

He added that the government's behaviour had also done nothing to pry apart the legal impunity that still plagues Cambodian society.

"We found that few crimes against the opposition have seen the perpetrators brought to justice," he said.

EC begins workshop for NEC officials

The Phnom Penh Post

Written by Khouth Sophak Chakrya
Friday, 27 March 2009

THE European Commission began a two-day training workshop Thursday for NEC officials working in a public information capacity.

The aim of the workshop is to increase public awareness at the polls, said Set Van Doorn, the EC's political adviser to Cambodia.

"In a democratic country, an election is not [fair] if information is hidden or not accessible," he told 40 officials from the National Election Committee.

Last week, the EC signed a memorandum of understanding with the NEC to send two experts on media and law to Cambodia to help the election body's staff strengthen the election system in Cambodia.

"This workshop will improve election officials' capacity to provide information to the voters," Tep Nytha, the NEC's secretary general, said during the launch, adding that the NEC had experienced problems regarding their dispersal of information in the past.

"Some politicians and other activists always accuse us of discriminating over who we provide information to, saying that we discriminate between political parties," he said.

Finding face: Tat Marina moves on

Photo by: COURTESY OF SKYE FITZGERALD
Tat Marina as a rising star of the karaoke scene.

The Phnom Penh Post

Written by Cat Barton and Sam Rith
Friday, 27 March 2009

After surviving a brutal acid attack, former karaoke star now fights impunity.

"In today's Cambodia, the God of Impunity reigns side by side with the King of Corruption," said then-King Norodom Sihanouk in 1999. A decade later, Cat Barton and Sam Rith see if Sihanouk's assessment still holds.

TAT Marina was beaten unconscious by the bodyguards before the well-heeled, middle-aged woman poured five litres of nitric acid onto her face. Brought to by the pain, the teenage girl flailed around in agony on the market floor, in full view of dozens of horrified onlookers, as the caustic liquid melted her skin, liquefied her flesh, burned off her ears, blinded her eyes and washed away her young, beautiful face.

"When those people did that to me, they took my life away, made me live in hell, I survived but something died [that day]... that's how I feel - I am alive but something of me died," Tat Marina said Tuesday by phone from the United States, where she now lives as a political refugee.
Ten years after the brutal, broad-daylight attack, Tat Marina's story remains still another of Cambodia's examples of impunity. The alleged perpetrator, Khoun Sophal, wife of Marina's then-lover, the high-ranking minister Svay Sitha, has never even been questioned by police, despite having an outstanding arrest warrant against her. Svay Sitha himself has been promoted to secretary of state at the Council of Ministers.

"I just want them to pay for what they've done. It would be a warning to other people: Do not hurt other people. They took my life away, took my future away.... I know how it feels and I don't want anyone else to feel like me now," Tat Marina said.

Like many other victims of crimes by high-ranking officials, Tat Marina has never been able to seek justice in the Cambodian courts. But a new film titled Finding Face, by filmmakers Skye Fitzgerald and Patti Duncan, seeks to give Tat Marina a voice within the court of public opinion.

"This family has been living under the spectre of injustice and threats for nearly a decade now. It's time they had a chance to exercise their fundamental right to free speech," Fitzgerald said via email, explaining why he decided to make the film.

"Marina's case continues to be (and should be) an embarrassment to the government of Cambodia," he wrote. "Although Cambodia is in theory a democratically elected government, the reality is that it is a functioning dictatorship run by Hun Sen and a fairly small circle of well-placed government officials. Svay Sitha happens to be one of these - and it is this corruption at the highest level that allows cases like Marina's to be slipped under the rug."

Overseas interest, local amnesia
The release of Finding Face, which was launched at the International Film Festival and Forum on Human Rights in Geneva in March, follows the December 2008 release of a graphic novel, Shake Girl, produced by the Stanford University Graphic Novel Project and inspired by Tat Marina's story.

The book follows Tat Marina's rise from poverty-stricken student to fruit-shake vendor (hence the name of the book) to karaoke star - and describes how, as a 15-year-old singer, she caught the eye of then-undersecretary of state Svay Sitha, who initially told her he was an unmarried American businessman. When she discovered the truth, Tat Marina says she tried to leave him but he responded with violence.

"I fell for him because he used sweet words," Tat Marina said Tuesday. "Now, I never speak to him. It's over between him and me."

A criminal investigation was launched after the attack, but progress was stymied by police fears of probing too deeply into the machinations of the rich and powerful.

Svay Sitha paid the costs of Tat Marina's medical treatment after the attack - on the explicit condition that she would not press charges against him or his wife. Eventually, Tat Marina's brother, Tat Sequando - who was then studying medicine in the United States - got her to America, where she received reconstructive surgery at the Shriners Burns Institute in Boston. They managed to rebuild the basic elements of her face, but the extensive damage from the attack is still clear.

"I feel awful when I walk on the street and people stare at me," she said. "I scare the kids - they freak out because of the way I look."

In the face of continuing local and international outcry over Tat Marina's case, the government argues the incident has been taken out of context and used by activists to unfairly lambaste their management of the country.

"It is an injustice for Svay Sitha that the case of his wife has been politicised and used to [advocate for] a law or regulations relating to women's rights protection," Council of Ministers spokesman Phay Siphan told the Post last Friday.

"The case of Svay Sitha's wife has been used to denigrate the government because Svay Sitha is a member of the government," he said, adding that the couple had divorced in 1999 soon after the attack, and while Khoun Sophal should face the legal repercussions for her actions, these were not applicable to Svay Sitha.

But according to opposition parliamentarian and former Minister of Women's Affairs Mu Sochua, this is a typical response from a government immune to criticism.

"It is so shameful. Kick [Svay Sitha] out of government. That he is at the Cabinet level, that he has been promoted despite this attack [on Tat Marina] is an insult to justice," she said.

Svay Sitha did not answer repeated calls to his mobile phone, and when tracked down by reporters after a Council of Minister's meeting Friday, he declined comment.

"I do not talk to journalists. I have nothing to say to you," he told the Post before slamming the door of his black four-by-four and driving away.

A convenient amnesia afflicts government and police officials over Tat Marina's case.

"I have never seen the arrest warrant [against Khoun Sophal]. The case occurred before I became the Phnom Penh police chief," Touch Naruth said March 16.

Sy Define, a secretary of state at the Ministry of Women's Affairs, said she had "no idea" about Tat Marina's case or why there had not been any prosecution.

Yet the case has never been closed and the warrant against Khoun Sophal is still outstanding - it was issued in December 1999 and is, under Cambodian law, valid for 10 years.

"Law enforcement officials cannot simply wash their hands of Tat Marina's case by saying that they don't remember it," said Naly Pilorge, director of Cambodian rights group Licadho. "They have an obligation to investigate crimes and bring perpetrators to justice, and in this case it is clear that they have deliberately refused to do their duty."

Photo by: PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF SKYE FITZGERALD Tat Marina has undergone multiple operations in America to rebuild the basic elements of her face, but the extensive damage caused by the attack is still visible, and she says she feels self-conscious when people stare at her.

ACID ATTACKS: a decade of suffering

Overall, since 1999, there have been at least 127 acid attacks reported in newspapers, with a total of 208 victims. The number of victims is higher than the number of attacks because acid is a very messy weapon and bystanders are often injured as well as the intended targets of the attacks. At least nine of the victims died, with the remainder often severely injured. Of the 208 victims, 112 of them were male and 96 female. The youngest victim was a three-week old baby, injured in an attack against the mother.

(Source: Licadho)

Copycat attacks?
The impact of the impunity extended to Svay Sitha and Khoun Sophal is far-reaching. Although accurate statistical data is scarce, there was a sharp increase in reported acid attacks in the months and years after Tat Marina's attack, and the subsequent lack of a prosecution made headlines.

According to Licadho statistics, in the six months from December 1999 (when Tat Marina's attack occurred) until May 2000, there were 14 other reported attacks - the highest number of acid attacks in any six-month period in the past 10 years.

"I am sure there are more attacks. It is like the traffic in Cambodia. Who dares touch a [government] car? So now, all the people say ‘If you don't chase the big man, why should I have to follow the law?' and it becomes part of culture," said Mu Sochua.

The idea that her case could have motivated similar attacks, in part, inspired Tat Marina to make Finding Face. Despite her fear of unlocking memories from the attack, Tat Marina, who now works in a store managing customer returns, felt compelled to tell her story.

"It was so hard to make that film ... I was so confused and so lost, I didn't know what to do with [my emotions]," she said. "But I had heard there were a lot of copycats out there.... I don't agree with it [and] I felt I had to fight back, had to get justice."

Now, Tat Marina's life revolves around her 4-year-old son.

"It is so hard to leave my past behind. I am trying, but I am happy now I have my son and I love him more than anything," she said.

"He makes me strong and helps me hold on to everything, and makes me more mature, not like a little kid like before."

For Licadho's Naly Pilorge, if acid attacks are to be eliminated in Cambodia, then they must be prosecuted regardless of who the perpetrator is. As long as some attacks are not prosecuted because the perpetrators have powerful connections, it sends a message that this is not a serious crime that demands punishment, she said.

Until that happens, Tat Marina hopes her story will serve as a cautionary tale.

"I just want to tell [all young girls] to be careful, whatever they do, because what happened to me - I just don't want something like that to happen to anybody, to any young girl," she said.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Kingdom of Impunity: a few of the many cases yet to be solved

July 1999

Piseth Pilika, actress

The famous star was shot in the back at point-blank range and died several days later on the operating table in Calmette Hospital. French magazine L'Express implicated Prime Minister Hun Sen and his wife, Bun Rany. The investigation is ongoing, police said Tuesday.

February 2003

Om Radsady, senior adviser to then-Funcinpec President Prince Norodom Ranariddh

Om Radsady was shot outside a city restaurant around midday and died later that day. The killing of the widely admired former MP sent shockwaves across the political spectrum, not least because of widespread suspicions that elements within the ruling Cambodian People's Party (CPP) were behind the high-profile murder. After earlier dismissing Om Radsady's murder as the act of a petty thief, the Ministry of Interior now admits there could be a political motive to the killing. The investigation is ongoing, said Mok Chito, Penal Department director at the Ministry of Interior.

April 2003

Sok Sethamony, Municipal Court judge

Sok Sethamony was gunned down while his car sat at an intersection. Two men pulled up on a motorbike, firing five shots and hitting the 42-year-old judge four times. He was rushed to Calmette Hospital, where he later died. The investigation is still ongoing.

October, 2003

Touch Srey Nich, singer

Chuor Chetharith, reporter Touch Srey Nich, 24, was shot in broad daylight along with her mother, who later died. The singer, who performed songs supporting Funcinpec ahead of the August election, was shot twice in the face and another bullet was lodged in her spine in the attack near Hotel InterContinental. She is still paralysed and now lives in America. Three days earlier, a pro-Funcinpec reporter, Chuor Chetharith, was gunned down outside his office at Ta Prohm radio in Phnom Penh.The motives behind the shootings were not clear, but the work appeared to have been done by professionals. Both investigations are still ongoing, Mok Chito said.

January, 2004

Chea Vichea, Free Trade Union Leader

The popular union leader was gunned down in broad daylight while he read a newspaper at a newsstand near Phnom Penh's Wat Lanka. He was shot at point-blank range by a man in his 20s who then made a getaway on the back of a waiting motorbike. The men convicted for his murder, Born Samnang and Sok Sam Oeun, who are widely regarded as scapegoats, are now free pending further investigation. Mok Chito said Tuesday that his police force never closes the investigation on any case until the perpetrators had been arrested. "We are still investigating all the cases [cited by the Post]," he said.