Court Completes Investigation of Svay Rieng Triple Shooting

20 August 2012
The Cambodia Daily
Gender / Human rights / Social development / Women in development
Bavet City / Bavet City Governor Chhouk Bundith / Cambodian Defenders Project / Chhouk Bundith / garment factory shooting / garment factory strikes / garment workers / human rights defenders / NGOs / SEZ / Special Economic Zone / Svay Rieng / Svay Rieng Provincial Court

The Svay Rieng Provincial Court has wrapped up an investigation of February’s triple shooting of female garment workers in Bavet City, a case in which the city’s former governor, Chhouk Bundith, is still the only suspect, a court official said yesterday. … The court has charged Mr. Bundith with causing unintentional injuries for using his personal firearm to shoot three women during a factory protest. Independent court observers and human rights defenders have said the charge is insufficient given eyewitness accounts that showed that he had knowingly opened fire on a crowd of protesters on Feb. 20 in a special economic zone. … Sok Sam Oeun, executive director of the Cambodian Defenders Project-a legal rights NGO-said it is difficult to predict the outcome of the case. “I don’t think he will go to jail,” Mr. Sam Oeun said. …