Sentences Given For Fatal 2019 Sihanoukville Building Collapse

The Preah Sihanouk Provincial Court on July 30 sentenced four Chinese nationals and one Vietnamese national to less than three years in prison each for their involvement in a building collapse in Sihanoukville that killed 28 people and injured 26 on June 22 last year. 

Preah Sihanouk provincial court spokesman Lim Bun Heng said the court had decided to sentence the five to 2.5 to 3 years in prison each and ordered them to pay a total of 60 to 100 million riel [about $15,000 to $25,000] to the families of each of the dead as well as 20 million riel to each injured worker. The court also ordered them to pay for damages caused to homes near the site of the collapse.

“There are only five defendants whose names were sent for the trial” on June 25 and 26, Bun Heng said, adding that the court had issued an arrest warrant for Vietnamese national Nguyen Thi Thuy Hao, who is on the runandwas tried in absentia.

The five convicted this week, including Chinese nationals Cheng Kun, 39; Deng Xing Gui, 48; Xie Ya Ping, 43; and Gao You, 29, were charged in the days following the deadly incident and have spent more than a year in provincial prison.

Two of the Chinese nationals, building owner Cheng and construction supervisor Deng, faced charges of involuntary manslaughter and causing unintentional injury and damage, and the other four were charged with similar offenses. FULL STORY: CAMBODJA