Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Journalists charged with "theft" after taking pictures of illegal fish farm run by the VN accuser

In Cambodia, journalists charged with "theft" after taking pictures of illegal farm

19 November 2007
Source: Southeast Asian Press Alliance (SEAPA)

On 17 November 2007, three journalists from the "Voice of Peace" newspaper in Kampong Thom province were arrested for "theft" after they took pictures of an illegal farm rearing snakehead fish in the district of Kampong Svay, Kampong Thom province, bordering Tonle Sap (Great Lake).

Thorng Channa, 45, Lim Thau, 35, and Pen Rithy, 32, were out on bail the same day, thanks to the intervention of a senior Information Ministry official, according to the Cambodian Association for the Protection of Journalists (CAPJ), a SEAPA partner.

The owner of the farm, an unidentified man from Boribo district in Kampong Chnang province, accused the journalists of stealing US$1,050 from him after the caretaker of his farm saw them there. Kampong Svay police arrested the journalists and brought them to the provincial court, which initially charged them with robbery.

According to CAPJ, illegal fishing and farming practices are prevalent around Tonle Sap and farm owners usually bribe the powerful for "protection" from the law.

Condemning the arrest, CAPJ demanded in a 19 November statement that the charge of thievery against the trio be dropped and full investigation into the case be conducted so that the real perpetrator is arrested.

Sharing CAPJ's demands, SEAPA notes that the charge against the three journalists may have been motivated by an intention to intimidate them from exposing the illegal farm they were investigating.

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

No such thing as illegal fish farming. We need food whichever way we can get it.

Anonymous said...

Oh God! I thought I had seen enough and more to come! Ahahhahha!

Anonymous said...

You need food 9:56AM CanhDuolMe heanh in srok Khmers!!!!

Go back to Hainoi eat your mama pussies!

Anonymous said...

Okay I will, 10:06, once we get all Ah Khmer-Yuon slaves back to Vietnam.

Anonymous said...

9:56AM

You're one of Youn who came to live in Srok Khmer illegally. We will deport you back to Hanoi.

How can these stupid police arrest Khmer journalists? Make nosense that not one but three with their professional credential in jounalism got excuse from the Viet who came to live in Cambodia illegally.

My suggestion is to sue this Viet man and deport him back to his country. Or burn down his fish farm.

Anonymous said...

99% of the fish farmers around Tonle Sap are vietnamese native and they are robbing our fishing industry...this is a crime...further investigation must carry on and the under cover agents must take swift action to ensure that all fish farms around the lake must be shut down...and all the fishes must be release to back to the lake.

Anonymous said...

Gentleman

This quite obvious that a viet agent has been employed to observe our expressed ideas through KI. Many responses are not at the interest of cambodia that we focused, it appears to be neither from the government nor any political faction.So please watch out gentleman.

Neang SA

Anonymous said...

Again, clearly we see as fact that hunsen followers lacked education. The Snakehead fish is a parasite; they destroy other fish. Having food, no-one is against or restraint anyone from finding a source of food for the tummy. But, those people that breathe need to understand the ecosystem as a whole. EVERY LIVING THING WANTS TO LIVE. 9:56am, you spoke like your brain being infested by the Snakefish or tuberculosis mycobacterium cocooning inside your cerebrum.

Please repond with dignity and meticulously thoughts. I now signed off by saying, "Two principles in human nature reign: self-love, to urge, and reason, to restraint; Pope".

Anonymous said...

It would be a fool to release anything to the Great Lake; it may harm the other habitants if the snakehead fish is infested. Looked what the Lamprey did to the Great Lakes in the USA.

Anonymous said...

This is getting to be ridiculous here. It seems like we are spending more money on the court then on food.

What we need is a treaty with Vietnam to get them to prosecute those who commited crime against Vietnamese citizens. We can't afford to pick up the tab for everyone anymore. We'll never get out of poverty that way.

Anonymous said...

For the sake of the survival of humanity! The Vietcong must understand something that is very fundamental here and that is what the Vietcong people want and Khmer people want it too!

The Vietcong can no longer go around persecuting Khmer people at will and acting like a bully! If the Vietcong still insist wanting their arrogant way and let the blood flow between the Viet and Khmer forever!

Anonymous said...

Wrong, Vietcong is Khmer best friend for since day1. The only enemy that we commonly have is Ah Khmer-Yuon criminals who caused the live of millions who destroyed the region.

And what was it you said Ah Khmer-Yuon criminals want, 12:19?

Anonymous said...

12:47pm freaking scare while one of our patriot hitting on his sensitive spots. Go Cambodian people !

Anonymous said...

That is why you always failed, 2:46. That is because you perception is all screwed up.

Anonymous said...

Vietnamese always prey on the weakling and uneducate one. I don't hear any bullying agaisnt the Thais. Thai will cut the balls and feeds ah Youns for eon.

Anonymous said...

Frankly, I can feel the Thai's guilt for helping the US against the Viet, but they are happy to have Cambodia as a buffer for now. They will not want to neighbor with the Viet just yet, and they are praying for the Viet to forgive and forget, hehehe!