Two men, one Chinese and one Cambodian, were convicted by the Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Friday and received the minimum sentence of seven years in prison for attempting to traffic a woman from Kampong Cham province to China for marriage last year. The men were identified as 31-year-old Chinese national Xu Xiandai and 54-year-old Cambodian Heng Seng, a Chinese translator and owner of a coffee shop in Tuol Kork district’s Phsar Deumkor commune, according to San Sophath, the presiding judge at the court.
 

“The court decided to sentence them to seven years each in prison,” he said. “The two accused have the right to appeal this judgment to the Appeal Court within a period of 30 days if they don’t agree with it,” he said. He pointed out that they were charged with “unlawful removal for cross-border transfer” under article 11 of the Law on Suppression of Human Trafficking and Sexual Exploitation, punishable with a maximum of 15 years in prison, after being arrested at Phnom Penh International Airport on December 15 last year.  
 

Major Phath Phalla, the deputy chief of the anti-human trafficking and juvenile protection unit, said the men were arrested after they brought 22-year-old Hum Sokhom from Kampong Cham province’s Prey Chhour district to the airport and tried to board a flight to China at 7am that morning. After their arrests, police rescued the woman and confiscated travel-related documents from her and the suspects, Maj. Phalla said.

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