(New York) Human Rights Watch today welcomed the conviction in Cambodia of a local leader for a politically motivated murder, but expressed concern that the trial ignored the political aspects of the case.
On March 15, the Kampot provincial court found commune chief Im Nan, a member of the ruling Cambodian People's Party, guilty of the premeditated murder of Pak Choeun and his wife Doung Meas on June 3, 2000, and sentenced him to seventeen years in prison. An associate of Im Nan, Rith Kha, was also found guilty and sentenced to seventeen years. Two other accomplices, Kem Ham and Svay Ran, were sentenced in absentia to fifteen and twelve years respectively.
During the past year, numerous incidents of violence have taken place against local opposition leaders, mostly directed at members of the opposition Sam Rainsy Party (SRP). In this case, the victim, Pak Choeun, 57, was an active member of the royalist Funcinpec party who had planned to run in commune elections scheduled for 2002.
"Without recognition of the political underpinnings of the crime, the deterrent impact of Im Nan's conviction is going to be lost," said Sidney Jones, executive director for Asia at Human Rights Watch. "Official impunity for criminal acts will only end when the full facts of cases like this one are publicly aired."
During the trial, Prosecutor Uk Kim Sith attributed the murders to an act of retaliation for the alleged use of "black magic." The political dimension, including allegations that Im Nan had earlier threatened to kill anyone who dared to run against him, were not examined in depth.
Pak Choeun was a well-known and respected figure in Laboeuk commune in Kampot province. Shortly before his death, Choeun was nominated by the Funcinpec party to run on a slate for commune chief.
One Funcinpec member interviewed by rights workers-who did not testify at the trial-said that a month before his death, Choeun had asked him to tell all party members to keep a low profile and take precautions, because the commune chief had vowed to kill anyone who challenged him in the commune election.
Choeun and his wife were gunned down while they were sleeping in a shelter in their ricefield in Laboeuk. On August 17, police arrested Im Nan, who confessed to plotting the murder because of alleged "black magic" activities by Choeun. Rith Kha was arrested the same day, after Im Nan stated that he had promised to pay Rith Kha 200,000 riel (about U.S. $50) to carry out the murder.
During the one-day trial on March 12, a soldier and a police officer testified that, about a month before the murders, Im Nan hired them to kill Choeun and lent them weapons because of Choeun's black magic activities. They said that they had waited to ambush Choeun in the ricefield but he had not come by at the appropriate moment. In addition, the chief of the commune intervention police and Im Nan's brother-who is a member of the commune militia-both testified that Im Nan had asked them to kill Choeun several times over the last few years, but refused. The commune policeman testified that, prior to the murder, one of his subordinates told him that Im Nan had asked him to kill Choeun. The policeman advised his subordinate not to carry out the killing and then warned the family that Im Nan wanted to kill Choeun.
"It's clear that Pak Choeun's murder was motivated in part by local political rivalries, in addition to a long-standing personal dispute with the commune chief," said Sidney Jones. "The message, however, is clear: involvement in politics can be life threatening."
Other attacks against local leaders in recent months include the slaying on February 10, 2000, of SRP member Chim Chuon in Kompong Cham for which a commune militiaman was later arrested, and the August 17, 2000, murder of Khhim Nhak, an SRP commune council member in Kompong Cham, for which the commune's deputy police chief was subsequently arrested. Other SRP commune candidates in Kompong Cham, Kampot and Prey Veng have also been threatened or attacked during the last twelve months.
Commune elections are scheduled for February 2002 in Cambodia's 1600 communes. Presently nearly all commune chiefs are people who have been appointed by the Cambodian People's Party.
