Boy caught up in protests faces 11 years in jail
As several hundred garment workers from the SL Garment factory pelted police with rocks during a protest near the Stung Meanchey pagoda in November, Men Sok Sambath, a 14-year-old scrap collector, decided to join the crowd. “I saw other people throwing rocks at the [police] truck, so I threw three rocks and then walked away back into the pagoda,” Sambath said of the incident Wednesday, sitting in front of his mother’s one-story shack in Phnom Penh’s Stung Meanchey commune. The clashes between the protesters and police—who were blocking the workers from marching to Prime Minister Hun Sen’s residence—left one woman dead from police gunfire, at least nine injured and 39 people arrested. … But only two of those detained were ultimately charged, including Sambath, who is facing 11 years in prison if he is found guilty of aggravated intentional violence, damage to public property and insulting civil servants for his alleged role in the clashes. Phnom Penh Municipal Court is set to hand down its decision on Friday. During the trial, the only evidence against Sambath, a slight boy with learning disabilities and epilepsy, was a video of the teenager salvaging scrap metal from a smoldering motorbike. “I did not burn the motorbike, but just went to grab the leftovers,” said Sambath, now 15, who has been collecting scraps and trash to sell since he was five. … Sambath then walked away from the scene before returning to Stung Meanchey pagoda later in the day, where he says he was beaten by police and hauled away. …
Mech Dara and George Wright
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/boy-caught-up-in-protests-faces-11-years-in-jail-59934/
