"Defendants get less than three years over deadly building collapse", 31 July 2020

The Preah Sihanouk Provincial Court … 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 … 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…

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…

Phuon Phanith, 29, who is representing his two family members who died in the incident, said he will discuss with his relatives before deciding whether they can accept the court’s decision…

Chap Pros, 40, a construction worker who was injured in the collapse also said he thought that the court’s verdict had provided justice for the victims…