The Ministry of Justice has announced that 60 per cent of the more than 900 prisoners who appealed for clemency during the Independence Day and Water Festival have been approved for submission to the king.
The National Commission to Review and Request Sentence Reductions and Pardons, led by Minister of Justice Koeut Rith, conducted their evaluations over a two-day period, from November 7-8. The commission reviewed requests for sentence reductions and pardons from 902 prisoners from four correctional centres and 23 prisons across the country.
Ministry of Justice secretary of state Kim Santephea said that 60 per cent of the applicants have been granted clemency, with just one pardon application making the final list. The list will be submitted to Prime Minister Hun Manet for review, before being forwarded to King Norodom Sihamoni.
“The commission was unable to pass any of the requests for a full pardon except one, in which a woman prisoner from Kampong Thom province applied on humanitarian grounds. She has been diagnosed with stage four cancer,” added Santephea.
He explained that the commission will not consider any requests by prisoners who have been involved in drug trafficking, violent crimes or unsolved cases, as well as those who committed crimes against their immediate family members or partners, or public officials and civil servants.
Am Sam Ath, deputy director of rights group LICADHO, said he had observed that this year’s evaluations of the clemency requests had been conducted in a more thorough way than in the past.
“In the past, pardons or sentence reductions were sometimes granted to people who were involved in major crimes, which meant the former prime minister had to intervene to eliminate such irregularities. In recent years, the review process has been more thorough. We urged that all evaluations be conducted without discrimination,” he added.
Soeung Sen Karuna, spokesman for rights group ADHOC, believed that the government should consider granting clemency to people who had been convicted of political crimes, as well as some activists.
