Cambodia should establish an independent body to receive and investigate complaints of torture and other abuses committed by police officers, according to LICADHO.

“Torture is all too common in Cambodia and it is time for meaningful action to prevent and punish this brutal practice,” said Kek Galabru on June 26, the United Nations International Day in Support of Victims of Torture. “Establishing an independent agency to investigate such abuses committed by the police is long overdue.”

The most institutionalized use of torture in Cambodia is by the police, to extract confessions from criminal suspects, punish them or extort money from them for their release. The United Nations Committee Against Torture has expressed concern about “numerous, ongoing and consistent allegations” of torture in Cambodian police stations and prisons, and about the failure to investigate and punish torturers.

Recommendations made to the government by the UN Committee in 2003, which have so far not been acted upon, included the setting up of an independent body to deal with complaints against the police.

“The government can show that it is serious about stopping torture by taking strong action to implement the recommendations of the UN committee,” said Kek Galabru. “If it doesn’t, then the government basically sends the message that it supports the use of torture.

“The current system to investigate and punish torturers simply doesn’t work,” said Galabru. “The courts often fail to properly investigate allegations of torture, and rely on information provided by the police to reject complaints as unfounded. Internal investigations by the police into complaints made against fellow officers rarely lead to disciplinary action being taken.”

LICADHO advocates the establishment of an independent body to directly receive and investigate complaints of torture or other human rights abuses committed by law enforcement officers. The body should be empowered to summons witnesses and suspected perpetrators to testify before it. It should provide the results of its investivations, and recommendations for prosecutions or disciplinary action, to the courts and the Ministry of Interior.

“Such a system would help to show the public that police officers are not above the law if they do commit abuses,” said Galabru. “Those officers who commit nothing wrong will have nothing to fear, and public confidence in the police and the government will be raised.”

More than 60 prison inmates interviewed by LICADHO in 2004 reported that they were tortured while in police custody after their arrests. The real level of police torture is difficult to assess, as LICADHO’s prison interviews are often not conducted privately and prisoners may be afraid to talk about torture in front of prison guards.

One of the main reasons for torture by the police is to obtain confessions from criminal suspects. Arrested persons are usually detained incommunicado at police stations, without access to lawyers, human rights workers or others, which increases the risk they will be tortured.

In line with other recommendations made to Cambodia by the UN Committee Against Torture in 2003, LICADHO also advocates:

- The government should permit independent organizations to routinely visit police stations and other places of detention to monitor conditions and interview detainees;

- The draft new criminal code and criminal procedure law should guarantee arrested persons’ right to communicate with a relative, friend, human rights worker or other person while in police custody, and to have a legal representative present during police questioning.

- The new draft laws should include measures to prevent the use of forced confessions as evidence in court, including the minimum requirement that no confesion should be accepted by a court unless it was made in the presence of a judge or lawyer.

“Torture is carried out behind closed doors, out of sight,” said Kek Galabru. “Practical safeguards are needed in the law to reduce the opportunity for torture to occur in police stations, and to ensure that people are not convicted on the basis of confessions beaten out of them.”

Under the UN Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, which Cambodia ratified in 1992, the government is required to take effective measures to prevent and punish torture.

Police torturers are rarely prosecuted in Cambodia and almost never imprisoned. The last time that a Cambodian law enforcement officer actually served time in prison for 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 last known torturerelated conviction in Cambodia was in 2002, when three Svay Rieng policemen were convicted of physical assault for torturing two schoolchildren; they received suspended three-month prison sentences.

June 26 - which marks the day that the UN Convention Against Torture came into force in 1987 - is commemorated each year as International Day in Support of Victims of Torture. The day is designed to promote support for torture survivors and the eradication of torture worldwide.

For more information, please contact:
▪ Dr. Kek Galabru, LICADHO president, 012-802-506

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