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| Sunday, 5 May 2002 |
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Cambodia court releases crematorium cannibals PHNOM PENH, May 4 (Reuters) - Two men accused of eating human body parts, washed down with a bottle of wine, were freed by a Cambodian provincial court on Saturday because there was no law against cannibalism, a public prosecutor said. The two men, both crematorium workers, were arrested last week for eating fingers and toes of a body they were cremating. "I ordered the military police to release them late Friday because there is no law to charge them with," Nhou Thol, a public prosecutor, told Reuters by telephone. Military police chief Rath Sreang said police in Banteay Meanchey province, 220 km (140 miles) northwest of Phnom Penh, were alerted to the case by villagers, who said the men often ate human parts after relatives of deceased had left the crematorium. "The villagers told us they were afraid that when there is nobody to be cremated, the two men will kill their children to eat," Rath Sreang said. Eating human parts was common during the 1975-79 Khmer Rouge "killing fields" rule, when ane estimated 1.7 million people died from torture, overwork, disease, execution and widespread famine. |
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