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 case, please click here: SEND APPEAL LETTER
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 sons 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,
——-
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)
