Bailed Garment Workers Speak of Injustice Ahead of March
In the weeks that 17-year-old garment worker Yon Chea languished in prison, he spent hours staring out of the window at a concrete wall, certain that he would never see his home or his family again. … The Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Friday morning granted bail to Mr. Chea and one other detainee, 27-year-old Bou Sarith, both of whom were among the 23 union activists and protesters jailed following the deadly suppression of garment worker strikes on January 2 and 3. They were released on Saturday. Many of the 21 who are still being held in prison went on hunger strike Sunday morning. “Sixteen prisoners out of 21 have been hunger striking since this morning because they want to send a message to the Ministry of Justice to find justice for them,” Kea Sovanna, the director of Correctional Center 3 (CC3), where the remaining 21 prisoners are being held, said Sunday. And for the two men released on bail, even life outside the prison walls is a struggle. Mr. Chea is now deaf in his left ear and unable to use his left hand from the beating he received on the evening of January 2. He said he was there because he wanted to take photographs. … Mr. Chea spent two days at the Phnom Penh Municipal Police headquarters, where he says he was forced to strip down to his underwear and sleep on a sheet of paper on the floor. He was subjected to hours of questioning and threatened by police officers. … Mr. Chea claims that after beating him unconscious, military police stole all of his belongings. … After being charged with violence and damaging public property, Mr. Chea was taken to CC3, which rights groups say is notorious for poor conditions. Each day was a struggle to get by, he said. … The outcry over the treatment of the 23 detained men has grown in recent weeks, with protests both at home and abroad calling for their immediate release. Today, on the eve of a bail hearing for the remaining 21 prisoners, unions are set to march along Phnom Penh’s Sisowath Quay and to foreign embassies to protest their incarceration and the government’s perceived inaction to address calls for a higher minimum wage. …
Mech Dara and Alice Cuddy
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/bailed-garment-workers-speak-of-injustice-ahead-of-march-51759/
