LEAD: Cambodian court sentences 2 school hostage takers to life

PHNOM PENH, Dec. 9 Kyodo

(EDS: UPDATES WITH CONVICTIONS SENTENCES)

A Cambodian court on Friday slapped down life imprisonment sentences on two ring leaders of a deadly hostage-taking at an international school in northern Siem Reap Province in June, a prosecutor said.

Bou Bung Hang, deputy prosecutor at the Siem Reap Provincial Court, told Kyodo News in a telephone interview that Chea Sokhom, 23, and conspirator Un Ny, 27, got life sentences.

Four co-conspirators -- Chim Chem, Chum Thol, Van Touch Sopheak and Un Sokhom -- got 20 years each in prison and two others, identified as Loek Soeun and Mam Chandara, each got two years.

The eight men faced murder, human detention, kidnapping for ransom, illegal use of arms and conspiracy charges.

Chea Sokhom, the principal ringleader, told the police shortly after he was arrested in June that he took about 30 foreign and local children hostage at Siem Reap International School to exact revenge on a former employer.

He said he was angry at his South Korean boss for slapping him.

But during the court hearing Friday, Chea Sokhom denied the confession, claiming instead that government forces who surrounded and stormed the school building were the ones who shot a two-year-old Canadian boy dead.

Prosecutor Bou Bung Hang said the court's verdict was based on ''thorough investigations'' and ''sufficient'' evidence and witnesses.

The Canadian boy was killed during the six-hour siege at the school on June 16.

Siem Reap, a major tourist destination about 225 kilometers north of Phnom Penh, is known for the Angkor temple complex.

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