(Photo: The sister of Phal Sophoeun, with her brother, holds up the only picture of the slain 14-year-old. 8 January 2009. By Isabelle Roughol)

By Isabelle Roughol and Neou Vannarin

Svay Sar commune, Pursat Province – Phal Sokhoeun, 27, was careful about the safety of her 14-year-old sister, Phal Sophoeun. She did not send her to the fields or to herd the cows after school, like so many other girls in Krakor district’s Boeng Smuk village. Phal Sophoeun was a quiet, gentle fifth grader, who walked straight home from Koh Kandal Primary School to watch her infant nephew. She never strayed far from the village.

“I was very careful and still it happened,” Phal Sokhoeun said of the rape and murder of her little sister, whom she’d raised for the past 11 years, after their mother died and father abandoned them.

Phal Sophoeun had been missing since Monday afternoon, along with her cousin Nai Vinn, 11, a second grader in the same school. Friends and relatives started searching in the fields, thinking the two might have got lost on their way home. Huot Nai, 37, Nai Vinn’s father, traveled to two neighboring villages in search of the girls.

On Tuesday afternoon, Phal Chantha, 19, Phal Sophoeun’s brother, saw a spot of color on the forested mountain towering over the field where he was standing. He gathered a group of 10 men to investigate. About 5 km into the forest, they found the two girls hanging from the same branch of a tree, about 2 meters from the ground.

The cousins had been raped, beaten up and strangled to death. Both had bled from their vaginas. Nai Vinn had bruises all over her body, both legs were broken and her eyeballs had been poked in. Phal Sophoeun had a broken leg and her neck was broken in so many places that “her head could move in any direction,” Phal Sokhoeun said.

The girls’ bodies were cremated Wednesday. Police suspect more than one perpetrator was involved but have made no arrest.

“It’s difficult to identify the suspects because the house is very far from the police office and it’s isolated from the village. And when we asked the people, they seemed to know nothing about potential suspects,” said Soeun Sopheak, provincial penal police chief.

The investigation is also difficult because police arrived at the isolated village at nighttime Tuesday, more than 24 hours after the crime, he said. Local police will continue investigating the case, he added.

On the way to the girls’ neighboring homes, roads of red earth get smaller and smaller until only a narrow footpath through yards and fields leads to three houses. Here, each home has lost a daughter.

Three years ago, the Phans’ neighbor, Thon Than, 20, left one morning carrying fertilizer to the family farm. She was later found raped, beaten up and strangled to death. No arrest was ever made.

“I believe in the law. If [police] could not find out, I don’t have any idea what to do,” said Long Khun, 60, proudly displaying a framed portrait of Thon Than, the niece she raised after her parents’ death.

Though Thon Than was not found hung up, the cases are cruel and similar enough to send a chill through Svay Sar commune. Many parents interviewed, including in the commune town 10 km away, said they were afraid for their children and would not let them get away from the house or school.

In Boeng Smuk village, Un Tae, 50, won’t let his twin daughters, 20, go to the fields or tend the cows anymore. He and his three sons have taken on the women’s jobs so they can stay close to home.

“I might stay at home forever,” said Tay Savuth, one of the twins, who added she was terrified.

The village of 278 families is usually peaceful, without any gangs, and everyone here is a friend or a relative, Phal Sokhoeun said. She couldn’t think of anyone who could have raped and murdered the girls.

But while he doesn’t have any suspect, the village chief, Kin Ngas, 62, is looking at his constituents differently now.

“The crab that cuts the rice in the rice field is the crab in the rice field,” he said, suggesting the killers were locals.

He’s advising that children stay as close to home as possible and that women travel in groups of at least three and let their families know where they are going.

Contacted Thursday, Minister of Women’s Affairs Ing Kantha Phavi said she wouldn’t speak over the phone to a journalist she doesn’t know.

“We have a policy [to prevent violence against women]. We’ve implemented it for five years already,” she said before hanging up.

At press time, Ellen Minotti of Social Services of Cambodia, had not returned a call for comment. The Cambodian Women’s Crisis Center and Cambodian Social Development could not be reached for comment.

(Photo: A young girl holds on to her father, who has packed and is ready to join the army, at a Cambodian military base in Oddar Meanchey province. He was one of too few who volunteered; in order to reach recruitment targets, local authorities forced others to enroll.)

By Isabelle Roughol and Eang Mengleng

Kok Morn commune, Oddar Meanchey province – Villagers in Oddar Meanchey province say they are being forced to join the army to meet recruitment demands set by the military.

Government and RCAF officials, however, say they are in no way endorsing such a recruitment process, which appears to be illegal.

An Oct 17 order from RCAF Commander-in-Chief Ke Kim Yan requested local officials to find 1,100 new soldiers in the province, though it does not say whether the men should be volunteers or draftees. Failing to find enough volunteers, at least one commune — Kok Morn in Banteay Ampil district — organized a lottery to select young men to be enrolled in the army, whether they wish it or not.

“It is illegal as far as I know to select soldiers [this way,] but I am a lower official so I have to do or obey the order from high officials,” Kok Morn commune chief Ourn Vy said by telephone Monday.

The commune found 12 volunteers but had been asked in a meeting with RCAF district and provincial commanders to find a total of 35, said Ourn Vy. A lottery was organized to pick 15 young men in each of the commune’s 18 villages, and a second lottery round on Oct 31 picked 23 of those men to join the RCAF, he said in an interview at his home Sunday.

“They needed soldiers in my commune so I started to select them by volunteering or by drawing a lottery,” he said.

The 12 volunteers and 23 draftees will be sent to RCAF district headquarters for training by Jan 31, Ourn Vy said. Ke Kim Yan’s order requests two more waves of recruits to join the military by April 30 and July 31, and more lotteries are likely to be organized, Ourn Vy added.

The men had no choice but to participate in the lottery, and if any of the 23 selected refuse to go, they will have to be forced, said Kok Morn commune clerk Vant Soth. Though villagers were clearly unhappy, none had yet lodged an official complaint, he added in an interview at his home Saturday.

However, Banteay Ampil district deputy RCAF commander Ou Sareun said he did not order commune officials to organize the obligatory lottery, and that the RCAF district headquarters would simply receive new recruits as they arrive according to Ke Kim Yan’s order.

Provincial Deputy Governor Yim Than said authorities were only planning to form militias at present, and that there was no plan at the provincial level to recruit soldiers.

Minister of Information Khieu Kanharith said the government did wish to recruit soldiers but not by force and that he could not confirm or deny the forced recruitment was taking place because he had not received any complaints.

“We cannot force the people to be in the army,” Khieu Kanharith said by telephone Monday, adding the conscription law passed in 2006 cannot be used to recruit soldiers because the government has not yet issued a sub-decree.

“If they are really forced to be in the army, they can complain to human rights organizations or to the UN or to the government office or to the members of the National Assembly representing them,” he added.

Minister of Defense Tea Banh declined to comment on the recruitment process.

Villagers involved in the lottery process said they feel helpless and confused.

“It is not fair at all,” said Lor Sinny, a 23-year-old farmer in Sing village, who is one of the young men selected. The father of one and only son to a widowed mother, Lor Sinny said he would prefer staying home to tend to the family’s two hectares.

Lamenting over his poor luck in the lottery, he wondered why only a few were forced to serve.

“I want all the youths aged 18 to 30 years old to go because it is our country, not just my country,” he said in an interview at his home Sunday.

Khum Oeum, a widow and mother of a 21-year-old selectee who also does not wish to become a soldier, said her son returned from the lottery meeting with the impression that there was no way out. She said she was not aware of any possibility to appeal the decision.

Khum Oeum expressed particular concern because her son, who works on construction sites, is the primary breadwinner for the family

“He runs the family like a father to feed his brothers and sisters,” Khum Oeum said, adding her other children might have to drop out of school when their older brother leaves.

25 October 2007: A business owner says his state contracts were terminated unfairly.

By ISABELLE ROUGHOL
Columbia Missourian

A business owner who lost his state contracts after an immigration raid is suing Gov. Matt Blunt, two state agencies and their directors for breach of contract and violation of the business­man’s constitutional rights.

The suit, filed Thursday morning, also chal­lenges Blunt’s authority on immigration enforce­ment and alleges racial discrimination against the plaintiff, a native African who is a naturalized U.S. citizen.

K. “Sam” Asamoah-Boadu, the owner of Sam’s Janitorial Services in Jefferson City, alleges in the suit that the governor and state agencies overstepped the boundaries of state and federal law when they terminated his contracts to clean several state build­ings in the capital and barred him from bidding on other state contracts.

“It was basically putting an end to him professionally,” said David Moen, Asamoah-Boadu’s lawyer, who filed the suit in Cole County Circuit Court.

The lawsuit was filed against Blunt; the State of Missouri Office of Admin­istration; its commissioner, Michael Keathley; the Divi­sion of Purchasing and Mate­rials Management; and its director, James Miluski. The suit seeks reinstatement of Asamoah-Boadu’s contracts, access to future contracts, “fair and reasonable” actual damages and punitive dam­ages.

Gov. Blunt’s office issued a statement Thurs­day afternoon defending the governor’s actions against the contractor, which he said benefited Missourians.

The Missouri Office of Administration termi­nated Asamoah-Boadu’s contracts on March 6, after 25 of Sam’s Janitorial Services’ employees were detained on suspicion of having false docu­mentation in an immigration raid by U.S. Immi­gration and Customs Enforcement agents, Capitol Police and state law enforcement.

Eight of the 25 employees were indicted in federal court on charges of possessing false Social Security numbers and identification cards. Four were found guilty or pleaded guilty over the summer, according to the lawsuit.

“There’s no evidence at all, absolutely none, that Sam knew anything,” Moen said. “Lo and behold, four (employees) had fraudulently made documents that were really well made because they had fooled everybody.”

Asamoah-Boadu provided the Division of Purchasing and Capitol Police with copies of Social Security and Alien Registration cards for all non-U.S. citizen employees, the suit states. The agencies approved all employees and never raised any questions about their immigration status, according to the lawsuit.

The suit also challenges the legality of Blunt’s enforcing immigration law and issuing an execu­tive order that allows the state to take action against contractors who employ illegal immi­grants, knowingly or not.

“States don’t have the right to decide who immigrates to the U.S.; the federal government does. (Blunt) has decided that he’s going to enforce a new standard,” Moen said. “It would not be his windmill to joust with.”

Asamoah-Boadu also alleges he has been dis­criminated against because he was born in Ghana and is black, and because he chose to associate with Hispanics. His contracts, once terminated, were given to B&G Cleaning, a business that once hired three of the four work­ers convicted of using false documentation, the lawsuit states.

A phone call made to the Kansas City-based parent company of B&G Cleaning was not imme­diately returned.

“The contractor who had employed these ille­gals previously, the governor gives this contract to,” Moen said. “This really is a hypocritical approach to law enforcement.”

Moen said he and his client fear the Sam’s Janitorial Services case will reinforce discrimi­nation against Hispanic workers.

“What you’re basically creating is a situation where nobody that’s a contractor in the state of Missouri is going to hire any Hispanics,” Moen said. “Who’s going to take that risk? If you hire a bunch of Hispanics, they’re going to come after you.”

10 August 2006: Printers cast doubt on voting machines

The county clerk says printers jammed on Tuesday and that she questions future accuracy.

By ISABELLE ROUGHOL
Columbia Missourian

The inaugural use of voting machines Tuesday raised an important question in the mind of Boone County’s top election official: Will the paper trail or the electronic count prevail if there is a discrepancy in future elections?

“When you have a problem with the paper and you know the paper is wrong and the device is correct, where do you go?” Boone County Clerk Wendy Noren said Wednesday.

The faulty design of printers in the new voting machines caused problems in getting the paper trail of Tuesday’s elections, Noren said.

“Things were jamming,” she said. “We had places where the paper was put in backwards. It looks like it’s printing, but it doesn’t.”

One machine was installed in each polling place Tuesday. Noren said she would not buy more until the printing issue was solved, despite their popularity.

In both St. Louis County and Kansas City, problems in a few precincts delayed complete election results until Wednesday.

Poll workers in 12 of St. Louis County’s 628 precincts failed to follow proper procedures when shutting down the machines at the end of Tuesday’s elections, said John Diehl, chairman of the St. Louis County Board of Election Commissioners.

As a result, workers at the county’s election headquarters could not validate that the computerized ballot memory cards delivered to them in fact came from the voting machines in those precincts, Diehl said. Election workers had to wait until Wednesday morning to gain access to the voting machines, which had been locked up overnight at the polling places, he said.

In Kansas City, election director Ray James said officials had trouble locating the electronic ballot memory cards from new machines used in four of the city’s more than 180 precincts.

In Boone County, election judges and troubleshooters were present in polling places to show voters how to use the machines and ensure that each vote would be cast accurately.

“We were very careful about any anomaly, looking into it,” Noren said. “They are normally things you do post election night. We did it election night.”

The use of voting machines was mandated by the 2002 federal Help America Vote Act. The law requires machines that check voters’ ballots before they are cast and machines that are accessible to people with disabilities.

“Forty-two percent of the people voted on the touchscreens, Noren said, “… which is amazing because in most places they had to stand in line to vote on the touchscreens.”

Thanks to an audio track and buttons engraved in Braille, the machines allowed visually-impaired Boone County citizens to vote secretly for the first time.

“I’m 51, and it was the first time I’ve ever voted without using a live reader,” said Debbie Wunder, vice-president of the Columbia chapter of the National Federation of the Blind. “That was a very, very good experience. I liked the privacy, I liked being able to cast my own vote independently.”

While there were no problems Tuesday, Noren said the issues with printing could be problematic if there are close races in the November general election.

Criteria are needed before an election to determine the final count, she said.

“You don’t want to do that in litigation after an election. ”

In accordance with Missouri law, one precinct will be chosen at random and its votes handcounted before Tuesday.

Noren said recounting all votes against the paper trail would take months and a lot of staff.

“If you had an election for president, Inauguration Day would pass, without a recount,” she said.

- The Associated Press contributed to this report.