Following the unprecedented 12-year prison sentences given last week to six Phnom Penh police officers for their roles in the torture and death of a woman in police custody, LICADHO urges greater action to investigate and prosecute other similar cases of torture.

“For the first time in years, if not decades, police officers have been convicted and sentenced to long prison terms for their involvement in torture,” said Kek Galabru, LICADHO’s president. “But one prosecution alone does not indicate a meaningful change in the official attitude toward the use of torture - the authorities must also prosecute other similar cases if they are serious about eliminating torture in Cambodia.”

On Friday, July 21, the Phnom Penh Municipal Court convicted six police officers of voluntary manslaughter for the death of Duong Sopheap, who died after being detained at the Phnom Penh Municipal Police’s Minor Crimes Office in June 2005. All six, who were arrested by Ministry of Interior officers six months after Duong Sopheap’s death, were sentenced to 12 years in prison.

Such convictions and sentences are extremely rare. The last time that a policeman served prison time for committing torture was in 1995, when a Prey Veng military policeman spent four months in prison for beating a 13-year-old boy who died during interrogation; the military policeman was convicted only of physical assault and received a two-year prison sentence, all but four months of which was suspended.

The convictions and sentences in the Duong Sopheap case are in marked contrast to other deaths in police custody allegedly caused by torture, which have gone unpunished for years, such as:

- The death of Prak Sitha, aged 20, in the custody of the Ministry of Interior on the night of January 16, 2003 after his arrest and detention by off-duty MOI officers. His body, bearing numerous bruises and other injuries, was dumped at a Phnom Penh pagoda the following morning. Despite internal disciplinary action reportedly being taken against the MOI officer who was in charge of Prak Sitha’s arrest and detention, no criminal charges have been laid in the case by the Phnom Penh court.

- The death of Eath Oeun, aged 35, after allegedly being beaten in police custody in Mesang district, Prey Veng province, on July 29, 2001. Eath Oeun, whose body bore numerous injuries to the head and torso, died soon after being released to his family in order to take him to hospital. Three police officers were charged with voluntary manslaughter in 2002 in connection with the case, but four years later they remain free and have yet to be brought to trial.

“These and other cases reflect the sad reality of torture in Cambodia - that the authorities are extremely reluctant to bring police torturers to justice, and that the few prosecutions which do occur are very slow and almost never lead to convictions or prison sentences,” said Kek Galabru.

“We hope that the court case over Duong Sopheap’s death is not a one-off event but will be followed by investigations and prosecutions in other torture cases, to show that the authorities are really committed to tackling the problem of torture by the police.”

Noting that it was the Ministry of Interior which investigated the death of Duong Sopheap that led to last week’s convictions of Phnom Penh municipal police officers, Kek Galabru questioned “why is it that similar action was not taken over the death of Prak Sitha, who died in custody under the noses of the Ministry of Interior?”

LICADHO hopes that Duong Sopheap’s case will serve to highlight the fact that torture - despite repeated official denials to the contrary - does occur in police custody in Cambodia, and that proper safeguards for detainees and prosecutions whenever abuses do occur are necessary. In 2005, a total of 101 prison inmates interviewed by LICADHO reported that they had suffered torture or other abuse in police custody after their arrests; between January - May 2006, 78 prison inmates reported the same.

“There is no reason to believe that Duong Sopheap was the only person to ever be tortured at the Phnom Penh Minor Crimes Office, or that such crimes do not occur in other police stations throughout Cambodia,” said Kek Galabru. “Now is the time for the police and courts to show that they are really serious about eradicating the brutal practice of torture, by investigating and prosecuting other torturers.”

For more information, please contact:
▪ Dr Kek Galabru, LICADHO president, Tel: 012 940 645

PDF: Download full statement