Khmer Circle:
Everyone in Cambodia knows that the rich and powerful are untouchable; they are not only above the law but are literally themselves embodiments of the law. While this is not by any means unique to the country [money and influence can work in your favour in many cases elsewhere too] this culture of impunity is deeply rooted in Khmer culture; one of its least desirable remnants and or living legacy of historical feudalism that accompanies and characterises any given system of absolute monarchy.
The country is no longer bound by this form of absolutism on paper since the PPA of 1991 and its introduction of this constitutional arrangement where 'the King reigns but shall not rule'. In reality, however, that ancient absolutism is still very much at work, albeit taken to this unprecedented excess in its current indulgence and exploitation of inbuilt impunity in the process of committing harm and abuse against innocents.
Perhaps, it is with this history and culture in their minds that explain the behaviour of these ruling officials and their kins outside of Cambodia: they may momentarily forget that their laws and guaranteed impunity do not extend beyond the country's borders.
^^^
12-year sentence for the crash that killed 2 in Melbourne is stiffer than punishment for the rich and famous.
2024.09.26
A Cambodian man who crashed his speeding BMW at a Melbourne intersection last year, instantly killing a husband and wife, has been sentenced by an Australian judge to more than 12 years in prison.
The Sept. 20 sentence of Doeun Udamseney has been hailed by observers and legal experts in Cambodia who point to numerous other cases of fatal traffic accidents where high-profile government officials and businessmen have faced lenient punishment or no legal consequences at all.
Doeun, 25, is the son of Doeun Sovann, a secretary of state at the Ministry of Interior. He moved to Melbourne when he was 16 and was most recently a nursing student.
According to the Australian Associated Press, he was traveling at almost 200 kilometers per hour (125 mph) when he ran through a red light on May 15, 2023, and struck the side of a Honda carrying Santosh Adhikari, 32, and Pratima Thapa Adhikari, 22.
The speed limit on that stretch of road is 70 kph. Judge Jeanette Morrish said the light turned red about six seconds before the BMW entered the intersection.
The couple had been on their way home after working at a retirement village. The collision caused their Honda to roll multiple times, according to the AAP.
In announcing the verdict last week, Morrish said Doeun ignored repeated warnings that the light was red and made a conscious and deliberate choice to expose others to danger, according to Rochelle Brown, a reporter from Channel 7 Australia.
The sentence of 12 years and nine months is significantly more than the usual eight years in Victoria for someone convicted of culpable driving causing death, Brown told Radio Free Asia. Doeun will likely be deported to Cambodia when he is released.
“This is a serious consequence, a real consequence,” Meng Heang Tak, a Cambodian-Australian lawmaker in the Victorian Legislative Assembly, said in an interview with RFA.
“Our road rules are very strict, and they apply to everyone,” he said, citing Victoria’s adoption of Vision Zero, a strategy that aims to eliminate traffic fatalities. “So, for those who come from overseas, including those who come from Cambodia, please respect our road rules.”
Public outcry
The case shows the vast difference in how the law is implemented in Cambodia and Australia, environmentalist activist Ma Chetra said.
“The Cambodian government should take preemptive measures by amending the law to deal with a devastating case like that so that they could severely punish a perpetrator who causes such a brutal accident,” he said.
On Thursday, Prime Minister Hun Manet said the government will consider amending the criminal code to allow for longer sentences for driving-related deaths. The maximum penalty for traffic offenses in Cambodia is just five years in prison, he noted while speaking at a graduation ceremony at the Royal University of Law and Economics.
He was apparently responding to another recent traffic case – one in Cambodia where four people were killed last January when a former Ministry of Economy and Finance official crashed at high speed into several cars and motorcycles at a red light in Phnom Penh.
The former official, Neang Sam Aun, was found to have been drunk at the time. He was sentenced on Thursday to five years in prison and fined 20 million riel (US$4,900).
The relatively light sentence brought a flood of criticism from Cambodians on social media, some of whom suggested that the law be changed to allow for sentences of between 10 and 20 years for drivers under the influence who cause deaths.
“He killed four people, but he was sentenced to only five years,” Phnom Penh resident Chhorn Mao told RFA. “It is not fair [for the victims]. If the law is not implemented fairly and properly, such accidents will continue to happen.”
In Cambodia, family members of victims of traffic accidents caused by the children of rich and powerful people know that justice is unlikely, according to Ly Sreysros of Phnom Penh-based Young Analyst Group.
“There have been many instances when powerful people have caused traffic accidents and prosecution wasn’t a priority until the public urged that the perpetrators be arrested,” she said.
Drag racing death
In 2021, Mondulkiri provincial Gov. Thong Savun was involved in a car accident that left two people dead. Authorities appear to have never conducted an investigation.
Last December, the 23-year-old son of a prominent lawyer eventually faced charges in a nighttime driving accident that killed a gold medal-winning badminton player. Witnesses said that two luxury cars were drag racing in a neighborhood when one of the cars struck a motorcycle.
But the driver, Prohm Vicheth Sosakada, at first fled the scene. He only turned himself into authorities almost two weeks later after another social media uproar.
Cambodians were outraged when the victim’s wife wrote on Facebook that Prohm’s father attended the funeral and offered the family US$1,000 if they agreed to not pursue criminal charges.
Another often-cited case was a 2013 hit-and-run crash that left a pregnant woman dead and her husband seriously injured in Kandal province south of Phnom Penh.
An SUV carrying National Assembly Vice President Cheam Yeap and driven by his bodyguard sped away from the scene after the collision, leaving the couple without medical assistance until 30 minutes after the crash.
Influential people in Cambodia have a long history of involvement in hit-and-runs of local people on the country’s highways, Human Rights Watch’s Asia director, Brad Adams, said at the time.
“One reason the rule of law has not been established in Cambodia is that wealthy and powerful people often pay or threaten victims to keep quiet and not cooperate with criminal investigations,” he said.
The lack of justice for victims of traffic deaths continues in Cambodia and is another form of legal impunity, Ly Sreysros said. And if a culture of impunity persists, people could turn to illegal means, such as beating traffic offenders or even killing them, she said.
The Venerable Saing Rithy, a Buddhist monk at Wat Damrey Sar in Battambang, told RFA that police and prosecutors continue to take their orders from the prime minister instead of just following the law.
It’s unlikely that anyone will be arrested when the next fatal traffic accident involving a relative of a high-ranking official takes place, he said.
“We have to enforce the law, putting them in jail like other countries do,” he said. “We cannot tolerate bad role models anymore. We need to clean up from now on. If not, the issue will continue as people keep using money to buy out their crimes.”
Translated by Sum Sok Ry. Edited by Matt Reed and Malcolm Foster.
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