Three  high-school students were charged with the gang rape of a 20-year-old woman in Kampot province yesterday, while another six suspects remain on the run.

Chen Au, chief of anti-human trafficking and juvenile protection at Kampot Police, said that the rape was alleged to have taken place in an abandoned house in Teuk Chhou district on Friday night.

The woman filed a complaint to the police stating she had been brought by her boyfriend and his friends to an empty house after a party and raped repeatedly.

“She said she was first raped by her boyfriend and later he asked all his friends to have sex with her, one person one time,” said Chen Au.

He added that after the alleged rape, the victim walked to a nearby village before catching a motodop to her home.

The men, who were arrested on Saturday, are 23-year-old Van Thorn, 18-year-old Pao Ty and 18-year-old Sin Veasna.

All are studying at local high schools and were charged yesterday.

“I think that such activity is the very worst and inhuman. To find justice for victim, as well as to prevent other people from committing such bad things again, we have to arrest and bring all nine suspects to court and prosecute them,” said Chen Au.

He added that based on the interrogations of the three arrested men, the other six suspects had been identified.

All are thought to live in Teuk Chhou district’s Prek Thnot commune, in Kampot province.

“I hope that we will able to arrest them and bring them to the justice soon,” he said.

Sem Sophea, investigating officer at rights group Adhoc in Kampot, said that it would also carry out an investigation.

“This case is very serious and very cruel. I would like to appeal to police to work hard and seek the arrest of these suspects for prosecution,” she added.