Former Bavet town governor Chhouk Bandith, a suspect in a multiple-shooting case, leaves the Appeal Court in Phnom Penh yesterday. Photograph: Heng Chivoan/Phnom Penh Post
Sitting directly opposite the three women he has been accused of shooting at a protest last year, former Bavet town governor Chhouk Bandith smiled as he finally appeared in court yesterday, 10 months after he was first charged with the crime that has drawn so much unwanted attention to Cambodia.
Bandith has kept a low profile since the three garment workers were shot in front of thousands at a protest outside the Kaoway Sports shoe factory in the town he then governed, and few expected him to actually appear at the Appeal Court yesterday.
Just under two months ago, it seemed Bandith would never see the inside of a courtroom when the Svay Rieng Provincial Court dropped its charge of causing “unintentional injury”. But an Appeal Court prosecutor later called for a re-investigation amid public outrage.
After deftly slipping past a press pack all but undetected, Bandith discreetly took his place yesterday and prepared to testify at what had been billed as an open session of court.
