CAMBODIA – PENAL CODE

BOOK ONE - GENERAL PROVISIONS

TITLE 2 - CRIMINAL RESPONSIBILITY

CHAPTER 2 - EXCLUSION OF OR DIMINISHED CRIMINAL RESPONSIBILITY

Article 33: Self-defence
A person who commits an offence in self defence shall not be criminally responsible.

Self-defence must meet the following conditions:

- the offence was compelled by the necessity to defend oneself or others or to defend property against an unjustified assault;
- the offence and the assault must occur at the same time; and
- the means used in defence were not disproportionate to the seriousness of the assault.

Article 34: Presumption of self-defence
A person who commits an offence under the influence of an irresistible force or compulsion shall not be criminally responsible.

The force or compulsion can only be the result of circumstances beyond human control. It
must be unforeseeable and inevitable.

A person shall be presumed to have acted in self-defence if he or she acted:

(1) at night, to repel an entry into a dwelling place committed by forced entry, violence or deception;
(2) to defend himself or herself against the perpetrators of theft or pillaging with violence.

The presumption of self-defence is not absolute. It may be rebutted by contrary evidence.