Adhoc, NEC Officials Detention Extended

Adhoc, NEC Officials Detention Extended

Lawyers representing a National Election Committee (NEC) member and four officials from rights group Adhoc will submit a complaint to the Appeal Court next week after the Phnom Penh Municipal Court decided to prolong their clients’ detention yesterday.

Investigating judge Theam Chan Piseth decided to continue the detention of the four Adhoc officials – Ny Sokha, Nay Vanda, Yi Soksan and Lim Mony – and NEC deputy secretary-general Ny Chakrya despite them having been detained in prison beyond the legal six-month maximum.

Ly Sophanna, a spokesman for the court’s prosecutors, said the judges were working on procedures related to continuing the detention of the suspects, who are accused of either attempting to bribe a witness or conspiracy to bribe a witness in a case related to acting opposition leader Kem Sokha and his alleged mistress.

Each person is facing between five and 10 years in prison, according to article 547 of the Criminal Code.



While leaving the court yesterday, defense lawyer Sam Sokong said that judge Chan Piseth had extended the detention of his clients beyond the legal limit.

“I think this delay has a serious effect on the rights of the accused. They have the right to get a trial without delay, to make it quick. During the six-month time frame, the judges didn’t make any effort to investigate and now their detention gets extended instead,” he said.

Mr. Sokong added that over the past six months, the judge had asked for inculpatory and exculpatory evidence, but as apparently none had been found they should drop the charges and release his clients.

“According to the law, six months’ detention is enough to investigate. We will appeal the court’s decision to prolong detention,” he said.

He said the decision to continue the detention was to search for additional evidence as some witnesses had yet to testify, the testimony of some witnesses was unclear and the court may decide to summon more witnesses.

Before returning to prison, Adhoc official Mr. Sokha questioned the independence of the court.

“If the court was independent, we would no longer be detained,” he said.