Cambodian Human Rights and Development Association (Adhoc) has published a report alleging misconduct by judges and prosecutors during trials, urging the Justice Ministry to examine them and mete out administrative penalties.
The Report Hearing Monitoring listed 16 misconducts involving judges and prosecutors. These include intimidating the accused, prosecutors shouting at the accused for failing to answer, usage of phone during trial, failing to explain in detail about the right to lawyer, forcing the accused to confess guilt, and barring or removing the public and reporters from courtrooms.
Adhoc’s report monitored 175 trials in 20 capital and provincial courts of first instance which were conducted from January 2022 to July 2023. Of the total, 79 cases related to human rights, women and children’s rights (64), and land rights (32), where most involved political and human rights activists.
Out of the 175 cases, 137 were criminal cases while 38 were misdemeanors. There were a total of 1,165 accused persons and 452 plaintiffs (victims of the cases).
Adhoc president Ny Sokha said the report showed that Cambodia still had problems relating to the judicial system.
“With this finding, we want relevant ministries to reconsider the issues and reform our justice system to ensure justice for our citizens,” he said.
“When [courts] don’t comply with procedures, it will affect the right to justice,” Sokha said.
Adhoc revealed that 80 cases have remained in pretrial detention from between six months and over 24 months.
There were 142 incidents where public were barred from entry or asked to vacate the courtroom, barring of reporters (116), judge or prosecutor leaving the courtroom during trial (82), judge asking the accused to apologize (81), handcuffed during trial (72), failure to explain to the accused the right to a lawyer (69), usage of phones (33) intimidation by judge or prosecutor (18), and accused being shouted at by the prosecutor for failing to answer (seven).
Adhoc recommended that the Justice Ministry take specific measures against judges and prosecutors who allegedly violated court procedures and the profession, and ensure severe administrative penalties are meted out.
Land right activist Phav Nhoeung, who was found guilty for defamation and incitement last August by Koh Kong provincial court, told CamboJA that during the trial, the prosecutor intimidated her while being questioned and restricted her from explaining the cause of their land problem.
“They [prosecutors] were intimidating during the trial and there was already a presumption of guilt,” she said.
“We were sad that the court did not allow us to speak in detail on the issue because we were arrested due to a land conflict. Because we weren’t allowed to speak up, one part of the information was lost. That is unfair,” Nhoeung said.
Last year, the World Justice Project, which assesses countries in eight sectors including civil and criminal justice, ranked Cambodia 141 out 142 counties in its rule of law index.
Justice Ministry spokesperson Chin Malin said the report “cannot be accepted”, noting that the “report lacked quality”, including the knowledge of the observer. He opined that the observer might not have a clear understanding of court proceedings or if they discussed with legal experts.
“For example, pretrial detention for more than six months; in fact, the law allows a delay of six months twice, so it does not mean that pretrial detentions of more than six months are wrong,” he said.
“There is no consultation with law enforcement officers and relevant parties. There is a gap in the report. There’s no quality and it’s [so] unclear that it can’t be acceptable,” Malin said.
However, he urged Adhoc to share any information with the ministry and cooperate with them if they know which judge, prosecutor or court clerk had been involved in any misconduct.
Both Phnom Penh Municipal court prosecutor Chroeng Khmao and spokesperson Plang Sophal could not be reached for comment.
