Logo of Phnom Penh Post newspaper Phnom Penh Post - Violent criminals among pardonees

Violent criminals among pardonees

Convicted British pedophile Michael Glyn Jones leaves the Phnom Penh Supreme Court last year after a hearing.
Convicted British pedophile Michael Glyn Jones leaves the Phnom Penh Supreme Court last year after a hearing. Kim Sarom

Violent criminals among pardonees

Among the 50 prisoners who were pardoned or received sentence reductions for the Water Festival this year, several were convicted of serious crimes, such as rape, murder and human trafficking, according to a review of the roster included in the most recent Royal Book.

Two of the prisoners were pardoned, with the rest receiving sentence reductions of six months to a year.

The prisoner with the longest sentence, Lang Kamsort, was sentenced to 25 years for illegal gun possession, attempted murder and premeditated murder, and saw his sentence reduced by one year. Eleven other prisoners receiving reductions were convicted of murder.

One of two prisoners receiving a pardon is United Kingdom national Michael Glyn Jones, 54, who has been in jail since June 2014 and was convicted of child prostitution and sexually assaulting children aged 6 to 11. He was sentenced to eight years, then had his sentence reduced to five, and has now been released.

According to his lawyer, he left the country late last week.

Koem Vanndo, program director of child protection NGO APLE, said he couldn’t comment on the individual case, but said that “crimes against children have life-long impact on their physical and mental development”, and should be “heavily punished”.

Another prominent prisoner, a former prosecutor from Pursat, Chan Sereyvuth, received a one-year reduction to his sentence on corruption, extortion and false imprisonment charges.

Chhin Malin, spokesperson for the Ministry of Justice, said that clemencies depended on a change in the inmate’s character and individual assessments of their crimes. “They met all the conditions of the evaluation,” he said.

Additional reporting by Leonie Kijewski

MOST VIEWED

  • Wing Bank opens new branch in front of Orkide The Royal along Street 2004

    Wing Bank celebrates first anniversary as commercial bank with launch of brand-new branch. One year since officially launching with a commercial banking licence, Wing Bank on March 14 launched a new branch in front of Orkide The Royal along Street 2004. The launch was presided over by

  • Siem Reap airport to close after new one opens

    After the new Siem Reap-Angkor International Airport (SAI) opens in October, the existing complex serving the northwestern province will be “completely closed”, according to State Secretariat of Civil Aviation (SSCA) spokesman Sin Chansereyvutha. SAI developer Angkor International Airport Investment (Cambodia) Co Ltd (AIAI) last month

  • Girl from Stung Meanchey dump now college grad living in Australia

    After finishing her foundational studies at Trinity College and earning a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Melbourne in 2022, Ron Sophy, a girl who once lived at the Stung Meanchey garbage dump and scavenged for things to sell, is now working at a private

  • Rare plant fetches high prices from Thai, Chinese

    Many types of plants found in Cambodia are used as traditional herbs to treat various diseases, such as giloy or guduchi (Tinospora cordifolia) or aromatic/sand ginger (Kaempferia galangal) or rough cocklebur (Xanthium Strumartium). There is also a plant called coral, which is rarely grown

  • Ministry using ChatGPT AI to ‘ease workload’; Khmer version planned

    The Digital Government Committee is planning to make a Khmer language version of popular artificial intelligence (AI) technology ChatGPT available to the public in the near future, following extensive testing. On March 9, the Ministry of Post and Telecommunications revealed that it has been using the

  • Cambodia returns 15M Covid jabs to China

    Prime Minister Hun Sen said Cambodia will return 15 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines to China for donation to other countries. The vaccines in question were ordered but had not yet arrived in Cambodia. While presiding over the Ministry of Health’s annual meeting held on