Apr 12, 2007, 3:35 GMT
Phnom Penh - The Cambodian Appeals Court on Thursday dismissed the appeal of the convicted killers of a prominent union activist and said 20-year jail sentences would stand in a verdict that infuriated human-rights groups who have campaigned for the defendants' release.
Judge Saly Theara took minutes to uphold the August 2005 sentence against Born Samnang, 27, and Sok Sam Oeun, 40, for the January 2004 shooting death of opposition-aligned union leader Chea Vichea. The two men were not present in court.
After a hearing that featured a string of witnesses saying Samnang had been 60 kilometres away at the time of the shooting, that the two men had never met prior to being charged and that confessions were made by the men under duress, Theara said he was unmoved.
Without waiting for lawyers to arrive at the court, Theara also ignored the summations of the prosecutor in the case that there were huge gaps in the police case and he wanted further investigations. The judge instead said the defence had failed to prove Samnang and Oeun were not the ones who gunned down Vichea in broad daylight on a busy city street as he read the newspaper.
Theara also took the word of a guesthouse owner who did not appear but placed Samnang at his premises on the day of the shooting over the testimony of Samnang's wife, mother-in-law and friends who vouched he was in the provinces celebrating his wedding. The judge said the crime occurred in January, which was not a normal month for weddings.
The families and lawyers of the defendants condemned the decision as unfair and called it a crushing blow. Sam Oeun is known to be suffering serious health problems in prison.
The prosecution case against the pair was led by since disgraced former Phnom Penh police chief Heng Pov, currently serving 25 years in jail for the murder of a senior judge and false imprisonment, but Theara did not consider Pov's convictions.
Pov is expected to face further charges, including a number for murders and attempted murders.
A spokesman for prominent local human-rights group Licadho said a group of rights groups intended to release a joint statement later in the day, but at the moment 'everyone is in complete shock.'
'In the traditional Cambodian court system, people are innocent until proven guilty,' he said. 'In this case, even the prosecutor admitted that after three years, he still had gaps in his case and failed to prove guilt beyond reasonable doubt.'
'How the judge can still reach this verdict is a mystery to us here at Licadho,' the spokesman said.
Peter Leuprecht, the special representative of the UN secretary general for human rights in Cambodia, called the Vichea verdict into question as early as 2004, saying the evidence pointed to the men's innocence, and groups including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have repeatedly demanded the men's release.
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