Release Yorm Bopha and Find a Just Resolution for the Boeung Kak Community
Phnom Penh, 06 June 2013 – On 05 June 2013 monitors from the Cambodian Human Rights and Development Association (ADHOC) attended the appeal hearing of Ms. Yorm Bopha. Bopha was arrested on 04 September 2012 and detained for four months before being sentenced to three years in prison under Article 218 of the Cambodian Criminal Code 2009: “intentional violence with aggravating circumstances”. The conviction relates to an incident in which two motodop drivers were assaulted at Phnom Penh’s Boeung Kak Lake area on 07 August 2012, allegedly at the behest of Bopha. The trial at the Court of First instance on 27 December 2012 saw the witnesses for the prosecution – who are also the alleged victims – repeatedly contradict their previous comments to the investigating judge when describing their assault, giving clear reason to doubt their account of the incident and any notion that Bopha was involved. The testimonies of the victims crumbled under the scrutiny of Bopha’s defense team at yesterday’s hearing. There is no credible evidence linking Bopha to the attack.
The incarceration of Yorm Bopha is nothing more than retribution for her activism as a vocal critic of the forced eviction of the Boeung Kak Lake community in January 2012 and her prominent role in the campaign for the release of the Boeng Kak 13– a group of activists imprisoned in May 2012 for demonstrating against their forced eviction from their homes. In this political case, the conviction of Bopha on such weak evidence demonstrates the lack of impartiality on the part of the judiciary. Amnesty International has designated Bopha a prisoner of conscience, and her detention has drawn criticism from local NGOs, international observers and others.
Yorm Bopha’s appeal is due to continue on 14 June 2013. Based on the lack of evidence against her and the clear political interference in her case, she should be freed and allowed to return home to her husband and young son.
Background
The case relates to a violent incident near Bopha’s home in which two men were injured whilst drinking at a guesthouse. At the Court of First Instance she claimed she saw the incident while she was out jogging, but was in no way involved. She stated she did not know the victims or the perpetrator. Bopha’s husband Lous Sakhorn and two of her brothers were alleged to have been involved in the incident and were convicted of the same crime. Her brothers were not present at court and were convicted in abstentia. Her husband was present at the court but received a suspended sentence, suggesting that Yorm Bopha has been singled out for her activism.
Bopha was at the forefront in the campaign to release the Boeung Kak 13, a group of activists that were imprisoned at a show trial on 24 May 2012. She had been repeatedly threatened and intimidated as a result of her activism and vocal criticism of the forced eviction of her community from Phnom Penh’s Boeung Kak Lake area to make way for a multi-million dollar development project by Shukaku Inc.– a politically connected company.
The Appeal
Yorm Bopha’s appeal started at 2:45pm on 05 June 2013. She was represented by three defense attorneys. Present as witnesses for the prosecution were the alleged victims– cousins Nget Chet and Vath Thaiseng. Yorm Bopha was questioned for approximately one hour, and her husband Lous Sakhorn was question for 45 minutes by three appeal court judges, the defense, the prosecutor and a lawyer for the alleged victims The judges asked questions of Yorm Bopha and her husband, who reaffirmed that they did not know the alleged victims and that they had nothing to do with the attack and were merely bystanders when the violence occurred.
Later in the afternoon the two alleged victims were questioned by the appeal court judges. They reaffirmed that Yorm Bopha had ordered her two brothers to carry out an attack as Bopha blamed the two cousins for a spate of car mirror thefts in the area. The victims’ testimonies were weakened by contradictions made in the evidence given at the appeal yesterday and what they had previously said to the investigating judge. Previously during the investigation Vath Thaiseng had claimed that Yorm Seth had attacked him, but at yesterday’s hearing he claimed that it was in fact Yorm Kanlong that had been his attacker. Similarly confused, Nget Chet claimed that it had been Yorm Kanlong that had attacked him with an axe, but yesterday instead claimed it was Yorm Seth. Nget Chet was also confused as to the the amount of wine they had drunk before the attack.
Such inconsistencies are not new in this case. It raises serious questions as to the legitimacy of Bopha’s conviction. Together with the clear political interference into this case and the backstory in which members of the Boeung Kak community have been targeted by the authorities for their activism, there is no motive for Bopha’s continued detention except a political one, and she must be freed and the convictions against her quashed.
Conclusion
There can be no justice in Yorm Bopha’s case. She has been wrongfully detained already for nine months. She must be released on appeal and allowed to return to her family. Her arrest, trial and detention is a mark against Cambodia’s already poor human rights record. As an activist she has exercised her legitimate rights to freedom of speech and assembly as protected under Cambodia’s constitution and the international human rights standards to which Cambodia is state party. Moreover, the case against her has laid bare the political interference in Cambodia’s judiciary, further undermining trust in the judicial system.
There is a chance for justice for the former residents of Boeung Kak Lake. Having lost their homes, having been harassed and intimidated and in many cases still waiting for compensation, the government and the Phnom Penh authorities should move to provide them with a fair and just resolution to this dispute. If the authorities are committed to ending this conflict and demonstrating their willingness to engage with the community, this is something they must do.
For more information, please contact:
Mr. Ny Chakrya, Head of Human Rights and Legal Aid Section: 011 274 959
Mr. Nay Vanda, Deputy Head of Human Rights and Legal Aid Section: 012599106
Mr. Neil Loughlin, Technical Assistant: 092 648 318; loughlin.adhoc@gmail.com
Mr. Chan Soveth, Senior Investigator: 016667373
