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CAMBODIA: Prison guards allegedly torture an inmate to death in Phnom Penh

November 26, 2008

ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION - URGENT APPEALS PROGRAMME

Urgent Appeal Case: AHRC-UAC-253-2008



26 November 2008
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CAMBODIA: Prison guards allegedly torture an inmate to death in Phnom Penh

ISSUES: Torture; corruption 
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Dear friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has learned that prison guards allegedly tortured a young man at Prey Sar prison on the outskirts of Phnom Penh. As a result of this torture, Heng sustained a fractured skull and died in a hospital in Phnom Penh on 21 November 2008.

CASE DETAILS: (Source: Am Sam Ath, LICADHO, and Cheng Kaing, Heng Touch's uncle, Phnom Penh)

On 26 September 2008, Heng Touch, 24, living in Roluos village, Cheung Ek commune, Dangkor district, Phnom Penh, was arrested and remanded in custody in Prey Sar prison on the outskirts of Phnom Penh. On November 3, his mother, Ang Bak Kea, was allowed to visit him in the prison. He was in good health. He asked his mother to bring him some food stuffs the next time she came.

On November 13, immediately after being informed that he was ill, his mother and an older brother, Veng Sreang, visited him in prison. Heng was then mildly ill. The prison guards suggested that he be transferred to another room. They asked for USD 200 to effect this transfer, a sum which they lowered to USD 100. But when the mother and brother offered them USD 50, they refused.

On November 15, the mother was informed that Heng was now seriously ill. She went at once to see him. She noticed that his head was swollen, his face bruised and his tongue cut. He fainted and lost consciousness. The mother paid 30000 riels (USD 30) to prison officials to get them to send him to Monivong Hospital in Phnom Penh where seriously ill prisoners are normally sent for treatment.

At the hospital Heng came round and told his mother that five men had beaten him. He then fainted and loss consciousness again permanently. Later he started vomiting and his health continued to deteriorate. Arrangements were made to transfer him to Calmette Hospital where a scan revealed he had a fractured skull and damaged lungs. He died on 21 November 2008.

Independent witnesses noticed that Heng's head was bleeding, bruised and swollen; his body, legs and arms were also bruised; and his tongue was cut.

All these injuries have led witnesses and Heng's mother to believe that he was tortured while in prison. A member of his family alleged that prison guards had begun torturing him after they had failed to solicit a bribe from his mother and brother when they visited him on November 13.

However, Prey Sar Prison Director Mong Kim Heng has denied any torture committed by his guards. He said that Heng Touch was trying to kill himself by biting his tongue and hitting his head against the wall of the prison's infirmary.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

It is a widely known fact that corruption, torture and other forms of ill-treatment of inmates are still practiced in prisons in Cambodia (see AHRC-UAC-090-2008).

Cambodia is a party to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment and also to the Optional Protocol to this Convention. It has also incorporated the UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners in its criminal law.

Under its articles 12 and 13, the Convention against torture calls for "a prompt and impartial investigation, wherever there is reasonable ground to believe that an act of torture has been committed" and "prompt and impartial" examination of cases filed against its perpetrator(s).

Heng Touch's mother filed a complaint about the torture used against her son.

SUGGESTED ACTION:
Please write your letters to the authorities listed below to request them to conduct an investigation into Heng Touch's death, take action against officials responsible for this death, institute regular inspections of prisons, and set up an independent commission to regularly examine the treatment of persons deprived of their liberty.

Please be informed that the AHRC has also written a separate letter to the UN Special Rapporteur on the Question of Torture and the Special Representative for human rights in Cambodia and the OHCHR in Cambodia calling for intervention in this case.

To support this appeal, please click here:

SAMPLE LETTER:

Dear ______,

CAMBODIA: Prison guards allegedly torture an inmate to death in Phnom Penh

Name of victim: Heng Touch, 24, living in Roluos village, Cheung Ek commune, Dangkor district, Phnom Penh
Name of alleged perpetrators: Prison guards, Prey Sar prison on the outskirts of Phnom Penh

I am writing to express my deep concern relating to the torture by prison guards of a 24-old man named Heng Touch at Prey Sar prison on the outskirts of Phnom Penh. This torture led to Heng's death on 21 November 2008.

On 26 September 2008, Heng Touch, 24, living in Roluos village, Cheung Ek commune, Dangkor district, Phnom Penh, was arrested and remanded in custody in Prey Sar prison. On 3 November his mother, Ang Bak Kea, was allowed to visit him in the prison. He was in good health and he asked his mother to bring some foodstuffs the next time she came to see him.

On November 13, immediately after they had been informed that he was ill, his mother and an older brother, Veng Sreang, went to see him in the prison. Heng was then mildly ill. The prison guards suggested that he be transferred to another room, asking for USD 200 to effect this transfer, a sum which they lowered to USD100. The mother and brother offered them USD50, which they refused.

On November 15, the mother was informed that Heng was now seriously ill. She went at once to the prison. She saw that her son’s head was swollen, his face bruised and his tongue cut. He fainted and lost consciousness. The mother paid 30000 riels (USD 30) to prison officials to get them to send him to Monivong Hospital in Phnom Penh where seriously ill prisoners are normally sent for treatment.

At the hospital Heng came round and told his mother that five men had beaten him. He then fainted and loss consciousness permanently. Later he started vomiting and his health continued to deteriorate. Arrangements were made to transfer him to Calmette Hospital where a scan revealed he had a fractured skull and damaged lungs. He died on 21 November 2008.

Freedom from torture is an absolute right. It is deplorable that torture has continued in Cambodia long after its people suffered so much violence in their recent past, under the Khmer Rouge regime.

The injuries that caused Heng Touch's death have given reasonable grounds to believe that acts of torture had been committed against him. I therefore strongly urge you to conduct a prompt and impartial investigation into this torture and take prompt action against the guards who have committed it.

I also strongly urge you to ensure that the Prosecutor General, prosecutors, investigating judges, and also officials of the Prison Department of the Ministry of Interior, conduct regular inspections of prisons as prescribed by the Cambodian Code of Criminal Procedure. This would make sure that the Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners are effectively enforced and the fundamental rights of persons deprived of their liberty observed.

Finally, I request you to implement the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture to which Cambodia is already a party, and create an independent commission, as that protocol has prescribed, to make regular visits to all places of detention, including prisons, to examine the treatment of persons deprived of their liberty.

I trust you will positively consider my above requests.

Yours sincerely,

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PLEASE SEND YOUR LETTERS TO:

1. Mr. Hun Sen
Prime Minister
Cabinet of the Prime Minister
No. 38, Russian Federation Street
Phnom Penh
CAMBODIA
Fax: +855 23 36 0666
Tel: +855 2321 9898
E-mail: cabinet1b@camnet.com.kh

2. Mr. Sar Kheng
Deputy-Prime Minister
Minister of Interior
No.275 Norodom Blvd., Phnom Penh
CAMBODIA
Fax/phone: +855 23 721 905 / 23 726 052 / 23 721 190
E-Mail: info@interior.gov.kh

3. Mr. Henro Raken
Prosecutor-General
Court of Appeal
No 240, Sothearos Blvd.
Phnom Penh
CAMBODIA
Fax: +855 23 21 66 22; +855 23 21 63 22
Tel: +855 11 86 27 70

4. Mr. Ang Vong Vathna
Minister of Justice
No 240, Sothearos Blvd.
Phnom Penh
CAMBODIA
Fax: +855 23 36 4119 / 21 6622
E-mail: moj@cambodia.gov.kh

5. General Neth Savoeun
National Police Commissioner
General-Commisariat of National Police
Phnom Penh
CAMBODIA
Fax: +855 23 22 09 52
Tel: +855 23 21 65 85

Thank you.

Urgent Appeals Programme
Asian Human Rights Commission (ua@ahrchk.org)

Document Type :
Urgent Appeal Case
Document ID :
AHRC-UAC-253-2008
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Extended Introduction: Urgent Appeals, theory and practice

A need for dialogue

Many people across Asia are frustrated by the widespread lack of respect for human rights in their countries.  Some may be unhappy about the limitations on the freedom of expression or restrictions on privacy, while some are affected by police brutality and military killings.  Many others are frustrated with the absence of rights on labour issues, the environment, gender and the like. 

Yet the expression of this frustration tends to stay firmly in the private sphere.  People complain among friends and family and within their social circles, but often on a low profile basis. This kind of public discourse is not usually an effective measure of the situation in a country because it is so hard to monitor. 

Though the media may cover the issues in a broad manner they rarely broadcast the private fears and anxieties of the average person.  And along with censorship – a common blight in Asia – there is also often a conscious attempt in the media to reflect a positive or at least sober mood at home, where expressions of domestic malcontent are discouraged as unfashionably unpatriotic. Talking about issues like torture is rarely encouraged in the public realm.

There may also be unwritten, possibly unconscious social taboos that stop the public reflection of private grievances.  Where authoritarian control is tight, sophisticated strategies are put into play by equally sophisticated media practices to keep complaints out of the public space, sometimes very subtly.  In other places an inner consensus is influenced by the privileged section of a society, which can control social expression of those less fortunate.  Moral and ethical qualms can also be an obstacle.

In this way, causes for complaint go unaddressed, un-discussed and unresolved and oppression in its many forms, self perpetuates.  For any action to arise out of private frustration, people need ways to get these issues into the public sphere.

Changing society

In the past bridging this gap was a formidable task; it relied on channels of public expression that required money and were therefore controlled by investors.  Printing presses were expensive, which blocked the gate to expression to anyone without money.  Except in times of revolution the media in Asia has tended to serve the well-off and sideline or misrepresent the poor.

Still, thanks to the IT revolution it is now possible to communicate with large audiences at little cost.  In this situation there is a real avenue for taking issues from private to public, regardless of the class or caste of the individual.

Practical action

The AHRC Urgent Appeals system was created to give a voice to those affected by human rights violations, and by doing so, to create a network of support and open avenues for action.  If X’s freedom of expression is denied, if Y is tortured by someone in power or if Z finds his or her labour rights abused, the incident can be swiftly and effectively broadcast and dealt with. The resulting solidarity can lead to action, resolution and change. And as more people understand their rights and follow suit, as the human rights consciousness grows, change happens faster. The Internet has become one of the human rights community’s most powerful tools.   

At the core of the Urgent Appeals Program is the recording of human rights violations at a grass roots level with objectivity, sympathy and competence. Our information is firstly gathered on the ground, close to the victim of the violation, and is then broadcast by a team of advocates, who can apply decades of experience in the field and a working knowledge of the international human rights arena. The flow of information – due to domestic restrictions – often goes from the source and out to the international community via our program, which then builds a pressure for action that steadily makes its way back to the source through his or her own government.   However these cases in bulk create a narrative – and this is most important aspect of our program. As noted by Sri Lankan human rights lawyer and director of the Asian Human Rights Commission, Basil Fernando:

"The urgent appeal introduces narrative as the driving force for social change. This idea was well expressed in the film Amistad, regarding the issue of slavery. The old man in the film, former president and lawyer, states that to resolve this historical problem it is very essential to know the narrative of the people. It was on this basis that a court case is conducted later. The AHRC establishes the narrative of human rights violations through the urgent appeals. If the narrative is right, the organisation will be doing all right."

Patterns start to emerge as violations are documented across the continent, allowing us to take a more authoritative, systemic response, and to pinpoint the systems within each country that are breaking down. This way we are able to discover and explain why and how violations take place, and how they can most effectively be addressed. On this path, larger audiences have opened up to us and become involved: international NGOs and think tanks, national human rights commissions and United Nations bodies.  The program and its coordinators have become a well-used tool for the international media and for human rights education programs. All this helps pave the way for radical reforms to improve, protect and to promote human rights in the region.