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RIGHTS WORKERS GO ON TRIAL IN CAMBODIA OVER WASTE RIOTS

by Reach Sambath, Agence France Presse

SIHANOUKVILLE, Cambodia, 8 July, 1999 --Two Cambodian human rights workers went on trial Thursday for leading an illegal protest against toxic waste despite international calls for the charges to be dropped. Kim Sen and Meas Minear, who work for the human rights group Licadho in this southern port, were among 10 people facing charges linked to riots that followed December's dumping of mercury-laden Taiwanese waste here. This trial is an intimidating precedent for other human rights organisations that operate in Cambodia," said a spokesman for The Action Committee for Human Rights, an umbrella organization for 17 Cambodian NGOs.

The United Nations, New York-based Human Rights Watch and local rights workers have added their weight to a campaign for the charges to be dropped, arguing there is no evidence the pair were inciting violence. I have no faith that my staff will be free and they have done nothing wrong," protested Licadho president Kek Galabru at the end of Thursday's proceedings.

UN officials, diplomats, foreign observers and local rights workers packed the tiny courtroom for what is seen as another crucial test for Cambodia's judiciary.

The two workers are charged with leading an illegal protest and inciting violence. One other man was facing similar charges while seven others were charged with looting.

Kim Sen and Meas Minear, arrested in December, were held in prison for a month before being released on bail.

In court, the state prosecutor accused the pair of failing to tell protestors not to use violence. The port authority building, customs office and home of the deputy governer was gutted by fire and looted.

Deputy governor Kim Bo has also demanded compensation of 444,168 dollars. "As a human rights worker, why did you not advise the people not to use violence?" prosecutor Chhun Mon said angrily to the rights workers, whose trial is expected to be completed Friday.

Meas Minear replied that he and his Licadho colleague were merely observing the demonstration.

The rioting was sparked after locals feared the consignment from Taiwanese chemical giant Formosa Plastics was responsible for the death of a port worker. Protestors also accused corrupt local officials of allowing the 3,000 tonne consignment through the port and its subsequent dumping close to a national park near this idyllic and relatively undiscovered beach resort.

Initial tests showed the grey-coloured waste -- described on customs documents as "construction waste" -- to be high in mercury, but environmental campaigners including Greenpeace warned it could also contain deadly dioxins. Despite the storm over the import, a trial last month acquitted customs and port officials of any wrongdoing. It imposed five-year jail terms and stiff fines on two Taiwan businessmen and their local translator in absentia. A Phnom Penh businessmen, Sam Meoun, was found guilty on a lesser charge of acting as an accomplice to secure the import of the waste but was given a suspended sentence.

The waste has since been repacked and returned to Taiwan.

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