Former Cambodian official convicted in absentia
SOPHENG CHEANG, AP
PHNOM
PENH, Cambodia (AP) — A former Cambodian governor was convicted in
absentia Tuesday of shooting and wounding three garment workers and was
sentenced to 18 months in prison, an outcome
that rights groups say highlights the impunity of the country's
political elite.
Chhouk
Bandith, former governor of Bavet town in southeastern Cambodia, has
been on the run for months and was not present at his trial.
The former official fled after the Feb. 20
attack in which he was named the prime suspect in shooting three female
protesters. The women were seriously wounded by the gunshots while
demonstrating
outside their factory with about 1,000 other workers for better working
conditions and benefits.
A
prosecutor in December dropped the charges against Bandith, saying
there was no evidence to prove he was the gunman. The move sparked
outrage among rights groups and in March was overturned
on appeal, paving the way for his trial.
On
Tuesday, the Svay Rieng provincial court convicted Bandith of
unintentionally wounding the protesters. Human rights groups had
criticized the charge as too lenient and had called for
a stiffened charge of attempted murder.
Rights
groups welcomed the conviction but condemned the light sentence, saying
that several witnesses saw Bandith open fire into the crowd of
protesters.
"The
sentence is little more than a slap on the wrist, and is emblematic of
Cambodia's pervasive culture of impunity for the well-connected elite,"
said a joint statement issued by the
Cambodian Community Legal Education Center and Licado, the League for
the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights.
The
rights groups called on authorities to find and arrest Bandith so that
he can serve his sentence and pay restitution to the victims. Bandith
was ordered to pay 38 million riel ($8,500)
in compensation to the three women.
Cambodia's
judiciary is widely regarded as corrupt and susceptible to political
manipulation. International human rights groups accuse the government of
using the judiciary to silence
its critics and to attack human rights defenders and say the courts
regularly fail to deliver justice to the country's people, particularly
the poor.
Cambodia's
garment industry is the main foreign exchange earner for the poor
Southeast Asian country. It employs more than half a million workers,
most of whom are women. Garment exports
last year totaled $4.6 billion, up from $4.3 billion the previous year.
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