The prime minister has called for an end to royal pardons for people convicted of robbery and drug trafficking, following a police shootout last weekend that killed two men accused of murdering a man and stealing his motorbike in Toul Kork. The two men killed by police had received royal pardons, Prime Minister Hun Sen said yesterday.


“They were released from prison, and they robbed and became involved in drug trafficking again,” said Mr. Hun Sen during a speech. “The Justice Minister should be careful about releasing prisoners jailed on robbery or drug charges.”  The two men are suspected of participating in a series of violent motorbike robberies after being pardoned.


The Cambodian legal system has traditionally allowed for group pardons of criminals three times per year, including one set of pardons during the Water Festival. This year’s Festival saw 102 prisoners pardoned by King Norodom Sihamoni, while another 578 had their sentences reduced. 


The Justice Ministry selects a list of prisoners it considers eligible for pardon, and the list is submitted to the prime minister for approval. Chin Malin, spokesman for the Justice Ministry, said that prisoners are selected to be pardoned for good behavior.


“We closely examine the prisoners,” he said. “If their crimes are cruel, or they have no signs to show that they reformed, we will not grant them a pardon.” He added that criminals who committed “cruel” crimes are ineligible for pardons. 


Although Mr. Malin insisted that the Justice Ministry pardons people based on neutral criteria, analysts say bribes can sway the decision over which convicts are set free and which stay behind bars. 


Am Sam Ath, technical director for human rights NGO Licadho, said that there is a need for increased transparency in the prison management’s choice of which prisoners to nominate for a pardon. “The first step of evaluation is at the prison, so we must have transparency at this step,” he said.


“Some prisoners, such as robbers or drug dealers, had not reformed yet, but their names were still on the pardon list,” he said. He said that these convicts had paid bribes to have their names added to the lists. He said that if the pardon system is reformed to prevent corruption, then dangerous criminals will not be set loose.


Whether the reason for a convict’s pardon is good behavior or bribery, Mr. Hun Sen said he would no longer approve pardon requests for people convicted on violent crime charges, citing the risk that, once released, violent criminals will return to a life of crime. 


He asked the Justice Minister to include the category of crime that the convicts had committed. “If any of the people whose names are on the list were jailed because of robbery, I will ask [the Justice Ministry] to take those names out,” he said.


The weeks following the Water Festival have seen a crime wave grip the country, with multiple murders and violent break-ins in Battambang, Pursat, and Kandal provinces. One woman who owned a money transfer shop in Pursat was shot dead Saturday night by intruders who stole roughly $30,000, and vendors from a Battambang market were pistol-whipped and threatened at gunpoint into giving up $300,000 in gold and jewelry. 


The prime minster said that the spike in crime will be followed by a police crackdown. “We have begun tracking criminal groups, and arrests will be coordinated by all branches of the country’s security system,” he said. “Citizens should cooperate by sharing information in order to break up these nests of armed robbers.”