The Supreme Court granted bail to a Kratie city military police chief — after lower courts denied his requests — with the official being charged with alleged torture, violence and death threats against two 12-year-old girls working at his house.
Tep Huy, the city military police chief, allegedly physically and verbally abused the girls for purportedly causing the death of his puppy. He allegedly pulled their hair, struck them with a chair and forced the girls to eat dog excrement and sleep with the dead dog for a night, said one girl’s mother last year.
Judge Nil Nonn granted Huy’s request for bail but under the conditions that he hand over his passport, not leave the country and appear before a commune police office every 30 days starting August
Last week, Huy’s lawyer, Long Kim Eang, said the accusation of making the girls eat dog excrement was false and was only based on the testimonies of the girls without any evidence. Kim Eang added that Huy had given the two families compensation and that they had already withdrawn the complaint and that there would be no threats against them.
Another military police officer Kim Sovannarith was also charged under Article 219 for violence under aggravating circumstances and was sent to pre-trial detention last year.
— Ouch Sony
Supreme Court Uphold Conviction of Former CNRP Official
The Supreme Court upheld a five-year prison sentence for Pen Mom, a former CNRP official, who was convicted for supporting the failed 2019 return of opposition leader Sam Rainsy.
Mom, who was the CNRP’s deputy chairperson in Kampot’s Kandorl commune, was arrested in October 2019 for supporting Rainsy’s plan to return in November that year, released and again arrested in September 2020 and convicted for plotting.
The Appeal Court suspended her sentence by two years but Mom wanted the conviction overturned.
Presiding judge Nil Nonn decided to uphold the Appeal Court’s decision on Friday morning. The hearing was conducted on July 15 and only the verdict was announced on Friday.
At the July 15 hearing, Mom broke down in court and said she had complied with the court’s bail conditions in the past and was being wrongly charged with plotting.
— Ouch Sony
Military Truck Used for Transporting Timber in Siem Reap
A military officer was fined in Siem Reap for transporting second-grade timber in a military truck that had departed from Preah Vihear.
Mong Bunlim, head of the Siem Reap forestry administration, said Aun Eart, 61, was stopped in Siem Reap’s Banteay Srei district transporting time in a truck with military plates on July 17. Bunlime said the truck had departed from Preah Vihear but he did not know its final destination.
“In fact, we do not know his goal, where he wanted to take this wood and we just know when he arrived at our location we implemented the law,” Bunlim said.
The military officer, who is from Unit 99, was charged with forestry crimes under Article 96 of the law and had the wood confiscated and made to pay a fine. He allegedly was driving the truck and was convinced to transport the wood by others for his “benefit.”
Bunlim said the local administration had seen at least 19 similar cases in the first half of this year, and while most ended up paying a fine, cases where people escaped were sent to court for further investigation.
— Mech Dara
This article was updated at noon on July 23 to include a third brief about transporting timber.
