The 1-riel lawsuit: King-Father vs Sralanh Khmer newspaper

1-riel bill currency: the left one was used prior to 1975, and the right one was used after 1979, currently Cambodian no longer has a 1-riel bill in circulation anymore. However, King-Father's lawyer demanded that a 1-riel damage compensation be paid to King-Father for defamation and publication of a false story, by Sralanh Khmer newspaper which published an article publicly posted online ciritical of Queen-Mother. The original author of the article who currently resides in France, invited King-Father to sue him in a French court, but no such action has been taken yet, and only the local Sralanh Khmer newspaper is subjected to King-Father's wrath with a lawsuit in a court which several claim as lacking in fairness, and highly corrupt.

Saturday, May 12, 2007
Sralanh Khmer Editor deposits 1 riel

Kampuchea Thmei newspaper
Translated from Khmer by Heng Soy

The director of the Sralanh Khmer newspaper sent 1 riel ($0.00025) to the Phnom Penh municipal court as demanded in the lawsuit brought up the lawyer of King-Father and Queen-Mother (against the newspaper).

Chhit Sarith, the lawyer of Thach Ket, the director of Sralanh Khmer, said that his client worked hard to find a 1 riel bill which was used only during the State of Kampuchea era (under the Vietnamese occupation), and during the Sangkum Reastr Niyum era. The 1 riel bill was handed over the Phnom Penh municipal court for safekeeping as demanded in the lawsuit brought up by Ka Savuth, the lawyer of King-Father and Queen-Mother.

Lawyer Chhit Sarith added that following his client handing over the 1 riel bill to the Phnom Penh municipal court, he does not know whethter the court will decide to dismiss the defamation lawsuit brought up against his client or not.

Ker Sakhorn, the deputy-director of the Phnom Penh municipal court in charge of investigation in this case, told Kampuchea Thmei newspaper that in the afternoon of 11 May 2007, the prosecutor of the Phnom Penh municipal court decided to charge Thach Ket, the director of Sralanh Khmer. Therefore, there is no possibility of dismissal of the case. This means that Ker Sakhorn will send the case for trial.

Ker Sakhorn added that the final decision will be up to the judge presiding the case, based on the law, because this charge stems from a newspaper publication.

On 21 March 2007, Ka Savuth, the lawyer of King-Father and Queen-Mother, sent a complaint to the Phnom Penh municipal court to sue Thach Ket, the director of Sralanh Khmer, for defamation and publication of a false story. The complaint was accompanied by an article titled “Monique is a Yuon woman, and she should not be considered as Queen-Mother or Queen-Grandmother of the Cambodian people” which was published on 15-16 March 2007. This article is the source of the complaint. In the lawsuit lodged against the newspaper, King-Father’s lawyer demanded a 1-riel damage compensation, but it did not specify which era the 1-riel currency should come from.

On 27 March 2007, Uk Savuth, the prosecutor of the Phnom Penh municipal court, decided to charge Thach Ket of publishing false information and defamation, and the case was sent to the investigating judge to pursue the case further.

Prior to the lawsuit, Sralanh Khmer published in its entirety, a disclaimer by Senator Oum Manorine, and Mrs. Oum Sophanit, the wife of Senator Iev Pannakar, on its frontpage. The disclaimer was a rebuke to the newspaper publication which affected the honor of King-Father and Queen-Mother.