This is truly the best news I have heard in some time.
In 2004, a Cambodian rights activist named Chea Vichea was assassinated in plain daylight on a busy intersection in Phnom Penh. He was an outspoken critic of Prime Minister Hun Sen, who had publicly threatened him in the weeks before the shooting. Days later, police paraded two men named Born Samnang and Sok Sam Oeun in front of reporters as the "suspects" arrested for Chea Vichea's murder. The two men were weeping and screaming their innocence. Witnesses said it wasn't them. Neither man was near the scene at the time of the shooting nor possessed any apparent motive for murder. At the time I was working as at The Cambodia Daily, where enterprising reporters tracked down alibis for both men. It didn't matter. They were each sentenced to 20 years in a trial widely denounced as a sham, and have been jailed for the last five years despite pleas from rights groups.
Today, they are free.
On Dec. 31, Cambodia's Supreme Court ordered both men released and a retrial of the case at the Appeals Court. This isn't the end of their ordeal - they remain under court supervision, and it's possible that the Appeals Court will uphold their convictions. But their release is a huge step toward justice for both men, and a victory for everyone who believes in human rights. Happy New Year!
