Cambodia: 23 labour rights activists detained
Event- Country
- Cambodia
- Initial Date
- Jan 2, 2014
- Event Description
After refusing for days to disclose the location of 23 protesters arrested last week and then charged in court, prison officials revealed Wednesday that the group is being held in a notorious jail in Kompong Cham province. Ten people were arrested on Thursday and a further 13 were arrested on Friday during protests by striking workers that saw at least five people shot dead by military police. Keo Sovanna, chief of Kom�_pong Cham's Correctional Center 3 (CC3), confirmed speculation earlier this week by rights groups Adhoc and Licadho that the 23 protesters-who have not yet been convicted of any crime-are being held at his maximum security jail. "We've detained them in the same building[here], since we don't have the rooms available to detain them separately," he said. Mr. Sovanna declined to comment further when asked about the health conditions or treatment of the 23 prisoners. The group includes union leaders, activists and striking workers, who have been charged at the Phnom Penh Municipal Court with the intentional destruction of property and intentional violence under aggravating circumstances. On Monday, Licadho and the Community Legal Education Center described the CC3 facility as "among the harshest prisons in Cambodia." Am Sam Ath, technical supervisor with Licadho, said that medical teams from his organization had visited the CC3 prison Wednesday and met with the prisoners. Each member of the group had been beaten both before and after their arrest, he said. "Vorn Pao's condition is the most serious," Mr. Sam Ath said, referring to a prominent union leader who heads the Independent Democracy of Informal Economic Association. "He recently had a kidney operation, and he has been repeatedly kicked in the area and has severe pain at the site of the operation. All the others detained have been badly beaten too." Chan Soveth, senior investigator at Adhoc, said a team from his organization had also seen the 23 and confirmed all had been repeatedly kicked and beaten. Mr. Soveth questioned why pre-trial detainees had been sent to a maximum security prison hours from Phnom Penh. "CC3 is a place where inmates convicted of serious crimes and then sentenced to at least 10-year prison terms are detained," Mr. Soveth said. "It is very abnormal that the courts and prison departments have detained the 23 people who have been charged there while they are only in pretrial detention." Kuy Bunsorn, director-general of the general prisons department at the Ministry of Interior, who refused to disclose the location of the 23 prisoners earlier this week, said it was not abnormal that the prisoners had been sent to CC3, which lies almost two hours east of Kompong Cham City. "Under the French, prisoners were taken to Koh Tralach prison where nobody could reach them or see them," Mr. Bunsorn said, referring to a colonial prison island off Cambodia's southwestern coast that is today a part of Vietnam. UPDATE 24/03/2014: Bail denied for the protestors. Several of the protestors are in a poor state of health due to the fact that they had been subjected to police brutality during the violent crackdown on protests. Only two of the original 23 activists arrested have been released. UPDATE 01/04/14: On April 18 2014, the 21 activists will be tried in 3 seperate trials. On April 4 2014, a Phnom Penh court will consider the request for medical leave of Sokun Sombath Piseth of the Center for Labor Rights of Cambodia. His hand was badly broken in the course of his arrest, but he has been denied medical care since. UPDATE 04/04/14: Vorn Pao and Sokun Sombath Piseth have had their bail requests rejected again in two seperate rulings. Piseth's hand requires urgent surgery after beatings he received upon his arrest, but his bail request was rejected due to CC3 prison's failure to provide sufficient details about his condition. According to the latest information, all of the 23 workers and rights defenders, including Pao and Piseth, will be tried at the Phnom Penh Municipal Court at 8am on April 18. UPDATE 07/05/2014: The trial of the activists has once again been delayed, this time to May 20th. After a day of trial on April 25, the trial had been rescheduled until May 6th, when it was again delayed. The trial sessions at this time were heavily criticized by NGO observers, who noted that judges displayed an open bias towards the prosecution. Exchanges between the prosecution and the defence became heated and the court decided that purportedly in the interests of the defendants' security the trial should be delayed. UPDATE 09/05/2014: On 9 May 2014, the Supreme Court of Cambodia upheld the February 11 Court of Appeals decision to deny the 21 detained workers and labor rights activists bail. UPDATE 30/05/2014: the 23 were given suspended sentences of between 1 and 4 years and released. 4 of the 23 were ordered to pay fines of 8 million Riel (2000 USD).
- Impact of Event
- 23
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention
- Violence (physical)
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly
- Right to fair trial
- Right to Protest
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Event Location
Latitude: 11.531161059027092
Longitude: 104.90295410156668
- Event Location
- Summary for Publications
On 2 and 3 January 2014, 23 union leaders, activists and striking workers were detained by Cambodian police at a Phnom Penh worker's protest. Most of the group are garment workers, but at least three - Vorn Pao, Theng Soveoun, and Chan Putisak- are rights defenders. The group is being held in an infamous maximum security prison. They face possible sentences of up to five years. UPDATE 24/03/2014: Bail denied for the protestors. Several of the protestors are in a poor state of health due to the fact that they had been subjected to police brutality during the violent crackdown on protests. Only two of the original 23 activists arrested have been released. UPDATE 01/04/14: On 18 April 2014, the 21 activists will be tried in 3 separate trials. On 4 April 2014, a Phnom Penh court will consider the request for medical leave of Sokun Sombath Piseth of the Center for Labor Rights of Cambodia. His hand was badly broken in the course of his arrest, but he has been denied medical care since. UPDATE 04/04/14: Vorn Pao and Sokun Sombath Piseth have had their bail requests rejected again in two separate rulings. Piseth's hand requires urgent surgery after beatings he received upon his arrest, but his bail request was rejected due to CC3 prison's failure to provide sufficient details about his condition. According to the latest information, all of the 23 workers and rights defenders, including Pao and Piseth, will be tried at the Phnom Penh Municipal Court at 8am on 18 April 2014. UPDATE 07/05/2014: The trial of the activists has once again been delayed, this time to May 20th. After a day of trial on 25 April, the trial had been rescheduled until May 6th, when it was again delayed. The trial sessions at this time were heavily criticized by NGO observers, who noted that judges displayed an open bias towards the prosecution. Exchanges between the prosecution and the defence became heated and the court decided that purportedly in the interests of the defendants' security the trial should be delayed. UPDATE 09/05/2014: On 9 May 2014, the Supreme Court of Cambodia upheld the February 11 Court of Appeals decision to deny the 21 detained workers and labor rights activists bail. UPDATE 30/05/2014: the 23 were given suspended sentences of between 1 and 4 years and released. 4 of the 23 were ordered to pay fines of 8 million Riel (2000 USD).