Two underage boys accused of raping a 9-year-old girl in Kampong Cham had their cases forwarded to the provincial court on Tuesday with plans to expedite their trials, a prosecutor said yesterday.

Hourt Vutthey, prosecutor and spokesman for the provincial court, said officials will speed up the process to prosecute their cases to minimise the boys’ time in pretrial detention. The suspects are both 15 years old.

“If we don’t find them guilty, we will let them go,” he said. “But for this case, it is very clear, because we have a forensic test and we also questioned them.”

Pak Cheat, police chief of Strung Trang district in Kampong Cham, said the alleged rape took place on October 7, when the girl was at home alone. “The suspects knew the victim,” he said. “During the questioning, the suspects confessed [to the rape].”

The victim’s mother filed a complaint on Sunday, and the suspects were arrested on Monday. Cheat said the victim had said the suspects allegedly threatened to kill her if she told her parents.

The age of criminal responsibility in Cambodia is 14.