17 September 2014

On September 17, 2014, we went to Prey Veng province to visit Theara, a former IBJ client recently released after being acquitted. Theara’s house is only 40 kilometers away from IBJ’s provincial Defender Resource Center, yet it took us nearly three hours to drive there  considering the rain and mud. IBJ Lawyer Mr. Prak Phin and his assistant Mr. Leang Sina drove us through many green paddy fields until we finally arrived in the early afternoon where we met Theara with his family to tell us his story.

On the road to the village

Back on December 17, 2013, Theara and his wife suddenly woke up at 8: 30pm after hearing a gunshot. His mother in law, living in the house next door, wanted to see what was happening and Theara’s wife asked him to go with her mother. When they arrived at the neighbor’s house where the noise had come from, a lot of villagers were already there. A group of four men had apparently gone into the house with guns to rob the owners. They kicked the husband, bound his hands and threatened his wife, asking for her jewelry and cash. According to the victims, they stole a total of 12 million riels (about 3,000 US$) and an additional 1,545 US$.

By the time the villagers and later the police officers arrived at the scene, the four men were already gone. Nevertheless, the victim’s wife said she recognized Theara as one of the men who had just robbed her. She said that she heard the perpetrators speaking in a particular dialect which was, according to her, only known by Theara in the village.

Theara and his two daughters in front of their house

With no further investigation, the police officers arrested Theara and took him to the police station for further interrogation. While in police custody, the officers told Theara to confess and demanded to know the names of the other perpetrators. When he denied being involved, they started to kick his left leg, which was already weak, again and again for several hours. No one informed him about his right to a lawyer and he had never heard of legal aid services. After two days in police custody, Theara was sent to Prey Veng prison where he endured an overcrowded cell and harsh conditions.

This story shows once again how proper investigation techniques in Cambodia are less often used. Due to a lack of means and will, arresting someone and making him/her confess is still the more convenient and cheapest way of solving a crime for the police.

After a few months in prison, a court clerk finally asked Theara if he had a lawyer. As he did not, the investigating judge appointed him IBJ Lawyer Mr. Prak Pin. The first time they met, Theara felt stressed, but was also relieved not to be alone anymore. From the moment he met Prak Pin, he trusted him and knew he had a chance to get out of prison.

IBJ lawyer Prak Phin & Theara

On August 28, 2014, after more than 8 months of detention, the trial finally took place. Theara was accused of theft with violence, punishable by imprisonment from three to ten years according to article 357 of the Cambodian Criminal Code. The IBJ defense lawyer brought exculpatory pieces of evidence before the court, including 8 eyewitnesses, one of which was the victim’s aunt, and 58 villagers’ testimonies (including the village and commune chiefs) attesting to Theara’s alibi and innocence.

On September 3, 2014, the judge issued his verdict: Theara was acquitted. He was released five days later. He immediately went to take care of his mother in Battambang province (450 km from Prey Veng) who had fallen ill while he was in prison. Theara is now taking care of his mother and working to cure his left leg before returning back to work as a fruit picker in a few months.

While Theara was detained, his 16 and 17 year old daughters had to work at a factory to support the rest of the family, including a three year old baby, while his wife was forced to take out a loan.

Though he is now back in his village, he has yet to see the neighbors who accused him of theft and is afraid of meeting them again.  “I have a family to feed and a loan to reimburse, so I need to work as soon as possible and avoid problems.” Unfortunately, this is also the reason why he will not be suing his neighbors for compensation or prosecute the police for ill-treatment.

Prak Phin, provincial lawyer (right) and Leang Sina, provincial investigator (left)

Theara is very thankful to IBJ and their defense lawyers. He concluded by saying “ {An} IBJ lawyer found justice for me. I {could} never thank you enough. Without a lawyer, I would probably still be in prison. IBJ offered me a rebirth!”

IBJ has been providing early access to council in Cambodia since 2001 when Legal Aid of Cambodia (LAC), invited IBJ to join their efforts to rebuild the Cambodian legal system. Since the establishment of the country program in 2006, IBJ has proved the efficiency of its model and managed to gather enough support to cover now 20 of the 25 Cambodian provinces conducting a range of activities to improve the quality of legal aid throughout the country and is currently the only organization providing free legal services to the indigent accused of Cambodia.

Quick Facts:

• 8 Defender Resource Centers providing legal protection across 20 provinces.
• Over 5,100 cases handled.
• Over 200 rights awareness campaign events directly reaching over 11,100 individuals.
• 38 roundtable discussions with over 940 participants.
• 32 radio rights awareness campaigns reaching out to millions of Cambodians.
• 22 defender/justice-sector decision-maker joint trainings, with over 900 participants.

IBJ is now working with national level officials to institutionalize its programming so that legal aid will be carried forward as a government operated service rather than an NGO-led effort. The period of 2014 to 2016 will be a time of critical design and transition, with pilot programs and joint implementation leading the way for a sustainable government-led effort in the long term.

IBJ hopes to open additional offices to provide due process rights protection in the five provinces that it currently does not serve – thus achieving universal access to legal aid throughout Cambodia.

Help make this a reality by joining the #SEChallenge and donate today!

————————————————————————————————————–

Learn more about IBJ Cambodia at http://www.ibj.org/where-we-work/cambodia/

Take a look at some examples of impact of the IBJ’s defense work here:

http://www.ibj.org/2014/10/03/ibj-informs-cambodian-prisoners-of-their-rights-in-preah-vihear/

http://www.ibj.org/2014/09/22/ibjs-radio-programs-help-lead-to-early-access-to-council-in-cambodia/

http://www.ibj.org/2014/09/19/ibj-offered-me-a-rebirth-defense-lawyers-help-free-tortured-man/

le 17 septembre 2014

Le 17 septembre 2014, Theara, un ancien client d’IBJ récemment acquitté et libéré nous a reçu chez lui dans la province cambodgienne de Prey Veng. Maitre Prak Phin, l’avocat local d’IBJ et son assistant Leang Sina nous ont conduit jusqu’à la maison de Theara située à environ 40 kilomètres du bureau provincial d’IBJ. Le trajet au milieu des rizières verdoyantes s’est avéré beaucoup plus long que prévu puisqu’il nous a fallu presque trois heures sous la pluie et sur une route boueuse pour y arriver. Arrivés à destination, Theara a partagé son histoire avec nous.

Une nuit de décembre 2013, un coup de feu dans le voisinage réveilla Theara et sa femme. La belle-mère de Theara, vivant dans la maison voisine, voulue voir ce qui se passait et la femme de Theara lui a demandé de l’accompagner. Il y avait déjà beaucoup de villageois quand ils sont arrivés à la maison du voisin d’où le bruit venait. Apparemment, un groupe de quatre hommes armés était entré dans la maison pour la cambrioler. Après avoir frappé et ligoté le mari, ils auraient menacé sa femme réclament ses bijoux et l’argent. Selon les propriétaires, ils auraient volé au total 12 millions de riels (environ 3 000 dollars américains) et 1 545 dollars.

Quand les villageois et la police sont arrivés, les quatre hommes étaient déjà partis. Néanmoins, la femme victime du vol a déclaré qu’elle reconnaissait Theara comme l’un des voleurs, attestant qu’elle avait entendu les voleurs parler un dialecte particulier que seul Theara connaissait dans le village.

Theara avec ses deux filles

Les policiers ont alors arrêtés Theara et l’ont emmené au poste de police sans enquête complémentaire pour qu’il d’avoue son crime et révèle le nom des autres voleurs. Theara, a clamé son innocence et les policiers ont alors commencé à frapper sa jambe gauche, et ce pendant plusieurs heures. A aucun moment Theara n’a été informé de son droit à un avocat ou des services d’aide juridique. Après deux jours de garde à vue, Theara a été transféré à la prison de Prey Veng où il a enduré les conditions difficiles d’une cellule surpeuplée.

L’utilisation de la violence et de la torture en vue d’obtenir des aveux est encore une technique courante au Cambodge. En effet, la police manquant de moyens pour mener une réelle enquête judiciaire, il est toujours plus rapide et moins cher d’arrêter un suspect et de le faire avouer.

Après plusieurs mois de prison, un des greffiers du tribunal a finalement demandé à Theara s’il avait un avocat et le juge d’enquête lui a alors assigné Prak Pin, l’avocat d’IBJ basé à Prey Veng.

Quand il a rencontré Prak Pin pour la première fois, Theara était angoissé mais ses inquiétudes se sont rapidement dissipées quand il a compris que l’aide juridique de Prak Pin pourrait l’aider à sortir de prison, et qu’il pouvait avoir confiance en lui.

Avocat d’IBJ Prak Phin et Theara

Le 28 août 2014, le procès a finalement eu lieu après plus de 8 mois de détention. Theara a été accusé de vol avec violence, crime passible de un à trois ans d’emprisonnement conformément à l’article 357 du Code pénal cambodgien. Maitre Prak Pin a présenté au tribunal des éléments de preuve à décharge, notamment 8 témoins, dont la tante de la victime, et les témoignages de 58 villageois qu’ils ont tous attesté son innocence.

Le 3 septembre 2014, le juge a prononcé son verdict acquittant Theara qui fut libéré cinq jours plus tard. Il est immédiatement allé prendre soin de sa mère dans la province de Battambang (environ 450 km de Prey Veng) qui était tombé malade alors qu’il était en prison. Il va à présent essayer de soigner sa jambe gauche nécessaire à sa reprise du travail en tant qu’ouvrier du bâtiment et cueilleur de fruits.

Pendant sa détention, les filles de Theara, agées de 16 et 17 ans ont dû travailler dans une usine pour nourrir le reste de la famille, dont un bébé de trois ans. La femme de Theara a aussi dû contracter un emprunt à la banque.

Aujourd’hui Theara est de retour dans son village. Il n’a pas encore revu les voisins qui l’ont accusé de vol et il a peur de les rencontrer de nouveau. «J’ai une famille à nourrir et un emprunt à rembourser, j’ai besoin de travailler dès que possible et éviter les problèmes», explique-t-il. C’est la raison pour laquelle il ne veut pas poursuivre les voisins en justice ni la police pour les mauvais traitements subis.

Prak Phin, avocat provincial (droit) avec Leang Sina, l’enquêteur provincial (gauche)

Theara n’a cessé de remercier son avocat et IBJ. «Sans avocat d’IBJ je serais probablement encore en prison. Je ne pourrai jamais le remercier suffisamment de son aide et sa générosité. IBJ m’a offert une renaissance.», conclut-il.

September 2014

Mr. Kheng and Nou Chandeth, the IBJ lawyer in Kampong Thom office

In June 2013, while riding his moto home from his mother’s place, a man named Kheng[1] was arrested by the police in Kampong Thom province. He did not understand what was happening, and got into a fight with the police officers at the moment of the arrest. They brought him into police custody to interrogate him. In fact, Kheng had been arrested in suspicion of being the perpetrator of a violent theft which had occurred the previous day in Siem Reap province. Kheng himself wasn’t even aware of this incident as he was in no way involved. Alerted by their colleagues in Siem Reap, the police officers in Kampong Thom were looking for suspects and had decided to arrest Kheng as he drove by, possibly because he had been charged in the past with use of an illegal weapon.

While in police custody, the victim of the offense came from Siem Reap to identify the suspect. She firmly denied that it was Kheng, recognizing that his physical appearance was very different from that of the criminal. Nonetheless, the police decided to keep Kheng detained for further interrogation. Kheng told them upfront that he did not know anything about the offense and that he was just driving home from his mother’s place at the time of the arrest. However, the police officers wrote in the records that he had committed the offense and pleaded guilty. Unfortunately, when the police officers gave him the records to sign, he was not able to read through them correctly; the light was faint and his eyes were bruised due to the prior altercation with police officers. These circumstances resulted in Kheng being sent to prison in pretrial detention.

Luckily for Kheng, he had heard about IBJ through the organization’s radio broadcasts which explain what a legal aid lawyer is and how to contact the nearest provincial Defender Resource Center. After two months in pretrial detention, he was finally able to ask his family to contact the IBJ lawyer in Kampong Thom province, so there was an IBJ defense lawyer available to represent him at trial In February.

As the police records were wrong, Kheng delivered a different, but true, version of events at the trial. The lawyer raised the issue that inculpatory evidence was only coming from the police records. He called Kheng’s mother to testify before the court, providing an alibi for her son as they were together before the arrest. He also called the actual victim of the incident, who reiterated that Kheng was not the perpetrator. Finally, the IBJ lawyer stated that the Cambodian Constitution and Criminal Code maintain that the accused should always be given the benefit of the doubt. By May the judges issued their decision, resulting in an acquittal for Kheng.

In total, Kheng spent 9 months and 21 days in prison. He was detained in a 10 by 5 meter cell, over-crowded with more than 60 prisoners. He could only meet his family once or twice a month for 10 to 15 minutes each time. Though he strongly felt the injustice of his situation, he remained confident that he would see justice. He was worried about his wife as well, who was pregnant with their second child at the time. She was left alone to tend to their farm while he was detained.  Fortunately for Kheng, he had learned about his right to a lawyer from IBJ’s radio program. He is very thankful for IBJ and their work and will continue to spread the word about the existence of free legal aid services.

[1] Name changed.

July  2014

Ms. Thyda[1] is 24- year-old woman living in a small house with her family on the side of an abandoned railway in Phnom Penh. Her house is part of a community of pieced-together houses, colloquially referred to as a slum. It is in this very same community where the incident leading to her detention and upcoming trial occurred. Her possible charge is intentional violence with aggression.

IBJ lawyer Ms. Chan Reaseypheak, Thyda and IBJ intern Jake Mooney

It all began when her monthly 64-dollar paycheck went missing from her locker, which she suspects was stolen. In order to pay her bills, she was forced to ask a man from her community for a loan. Unfortunately, Ms. Thyda caught him at the wrong time as he was on his porch visibly intoxicated. He started calling her names, belligerently insulting her and her family. He then proceeded to throw food and metal objects at her. Eventually the situation escalated into a physical altercation. It is at this point that an unknown group of men arrived and proceeded to beat the man up. Though she left quickly, Ms. Thyda did not escape without being severely beaten.

Ms. Thyda was aware of the fact that this man was a government informant living in the slums to provide information about the goings-on in the community. This frightened her because these connections made him a dangerous man to upset and could mean extreme prejudice and injustice against her. As it turns out, he was so upset that he called his friends at the police station and blamed the entire incident on this young woman who had come to him for help.

The police asked Ms. Thyda to come give her statement at the station. Since she felt she did nothing wrong, she went to the station right away. However, instead of taking her statement they decided to keep her in custody until the investigation started. She was not informed of any time limit on her custody and feared that she could be kept there indefinitely. It is hard to say how long she may have stayed had International Bridges to Justice not intervened.

There is no time limit, no oversight; she could have been detained for however long they saw fit. As no charges were made, Ms. Thyda was not read her rights. She was thrown into a damp10x10 foot cell with no light other than a 4×6 inch window. The conditions were deplorable. There was no bed, sheets, or ventilation at all. Though prison conditions are already poor, custody conditions are even less monitored due to the fact that they are meant to be short term holding facilities. Conditions vary from lush cells, usually reserved for the wealthy, to what Ms. Thyda unfortunately experienced. She was in custody for five days during which time she was provided absolutely no food or water. Luckily her family was able to bring her what little sustenance they could afford to keep her going. Looking back at those five long days in the custody, Ms. Thyda said, “I felt absolutely hopeless. I was hungry, tired, scared and I knew that nobody was coming to help me. I felt depressed because at this point, my life seemed to be over.”[2]

Thyda and her family, IBJ intern Jake Mooney and IBJ lawyer Ms. Chan Reaseypheak (middle)

IBJ is known by many other organizations in Cambodia as one of the only viable options to turn in a situation like this. There are groups that particularly try to look after service workers in Phnom Penh. Luckily, the restaurant Ms. Thyda works for is connected to one such group that specifically looks after women who work night jobs. After hearing about her situation, the organization contacted IBJ for help. An IBJ attorney was able to meet with Ms. Thyda the very next day, listen to her story, and get her released from custody that same day. Since there were no existing charges, there was no bail or hearing.

As Ms. Thyda’s case demonstrates, early access to council is essential. Lawyers play an integral role in advocating and protecting prisoner’s rights within the legal system. Ms. Thyda could have easily been in custody for months before any investigation even started. She has not been charged with anything yet, but if she is, IBJ will be by her side defending her rights every step of the way.

^[1] Name Changed (French)

[2]  Translated from English