Mu Sochua was stripped of her legal immunity and lost her seat in parliament [EPA]
Hun Sen has said rights groups are interfering in Cambodia's affairs [GALLO/GETTY]Tuesday, August 04, 2009
Al Jazeera
A Cambodian court has ordered an opposition member of parliament to pay $4,100 in damages after finding her guilty of defaming the country's prime minister.
A municipal court in the capital Phnom Penh ruled on Tuesday that Mu Sochua of the Sam Rainsy Party had defamed Hun Sen when she tried to sue him over comments he allegedly made about her conduct during last year's election campaign.
Critics have said the ruling reflected Hun Sen's determination to use Cambodia's courts to silence opposition critics.
"That was not justice in the courtroom. It was totally political," Sochua told reporters, who were banned from attending the court session.
"I will continue to fight until I get justice. Today, the court could have been a light for justice. The judge gave us darkness instead."
In early April, Hun Sen referred to an unnamed politician as a "strong leg," a term seen by some in Cambodia as offensive to women.
Mu Sochua has said the speech referred to her. She also denounced his remarks in another speech.
The court rejected her lawsuit in June, saying that it was groundless, but it moved ahead with the prime minister's countersuit.
Sochua, who was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2005 for her work against the trafficking of women in Cambodia, and Ho Vann, another politician, were stripped of their legal immunity last month and lost their seats in parliament.
Vann is accused of spreading false information and faces three years in prison.
Government crackdown
Sochua's case is the latest in a series of lawsuits and arrests targeting opposition voices.
Hang Chkra, a newspaper editor is serving a one-year sentence in Phnom Penh for writing about alleged government corruption.
In June Moeung Sonn, an opposition activist, fled the country after being given a two-year sentence for questioning a lighting system at the Angkor Wat temple complex, the country's biggest tourism drawcard.
Another opposition newspaper shut down after 10 years of publishing to avoid government legal action.
In June, the office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in Cambodia and the New York-based Human Rights Watch criticised the lawsuits against the politicians.
In a statement, the UN said the lawsuits undermined the constitutional freedom of opinion and expression.
Human Rights Watch said that Hun Sen had "a long history of trying to muzzle Cambodia's political opposition and undermine the independence of the legal profession".
Last month, the prime minister, a former Khmer Rouge fighter, criticised rights groups and foreign diplomats for interfering in Cambodia's internal affairs after they voiced concern about the removal of Sochua and Vann's parliamentary immunity.
Hun Sen has dominated Cambodian politics for more than two decades and won a landslide election in July last year.
A municipal court in the capital Phnom Penh ruled on Tuesday that Mu Sochua of the Sam Rainsy Party had defamed Hun Sen when she tried to sue him over comments he allegedly made about her conduct during last year's election campaign.
Critics have said the ruling reflected Hun Sen's determination to use Cambodia's courts to silence opposition critics.
"That was not justice in the courtroom. It was totally political," Sochua told reporters, who were banned from attending the court session.
"I will continue to fight until I get justice. Today, the court could have been a light for justice. The judge gave us darkness instead."
In early April, Hun Sen referred to an unnamed politician as a "strong leg," a term seen by some in Cambodia as offensive to women.
Mu Sochua has said the speech referred to her. She also denounced his remarks in another speech.
The court rejected her lawsuit in June, saying that it was groundless, but it moved ahead with the prime minister's countersuit.
Sochua, who was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2005 for her work against the trafficking of women in Cambodia, and Ho Vann, another politician, were stripped of their legal immunity last month and lost their seats in parliament.
Vann is accused of spreading false information and faces three years in prison.
Government crackdown
Sochua's case is the latest in a series of lawsuits and arrests targeting opposition voices.
Hang Chkra, a newspaper editor is serving a one-year sentence in Phnom Penh for writing about alleged government corruption.
In June Moeung Sonn, an opposition activist, fled the country after being given a two-year sentence for questioning a lighting system at the Angkor Wat temple complex, the country's biggest tourism drawcard.
Another opposition newspaper shut down after 10 years of publishing to avoid government legal action.
In June, the office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in Cambodia and the New York-based Human Rights Watch criticised the lawsuits against the politicians.
In a statement, the UN said the lawsuits undermined the constitutional freedom of opinion and expression.
Human Rights Watch said that Hun Sen had "a long history of trying to muzzle Cambodia's political opposition and undermine the independence of the legal profession".
Last month, the prime minister, a former Khmer Rouge fighter, criticised rights groups and foreign diplomats for interfering in Cambodia's internal affairs after they voiced concern about the removal of Sochua and Vann's parliamentary immunity.
Hun Sen has dominated Cambodian politics for more than two decades and won a landslide election in July last year.
31 comments:
i think the court is right. you have to hear the way people speak when it comes to politics in cambodia. it's all about name-callings or defamation. i have no doubt she used profanity toward the prime minister. you have to understand the khmer psyche to know the true. people in cambodia, especially politician often used name-calling toward one another. it's the khmer thing! usually if they are friends, it's ok, but if they are not friends it can be defamation alright! it's probably true with any culture in the world as well. people can all get too personal, sometimes!
Ah Kwack is so stupid! If right grouis not concern about his stupid actions it would not need right group!
And without right group interfer with Cambodia internal affair,mothersfucker ah Kwack Hun Xen will kille people again like whan he was KhmereRouge!
May lightning strike the motherfuckerS!!!!!
Ah Ho Nam Hong is a killer too!
see, the above comment is a good example of why the court acted the way they did. i told you. these are unruly people, perhaps uncivilized as well. i think only ignorant people act this way like above! see what i mean! how can you reconcile with them!
Ah kwak is your day coming I the one who take out your left over eye and give that for my cat as the food.
Evil not always win
2:37AM yodon't you know that a kwack hold power for decades and never change his stupidity! He is less than a dog, fool!
If you know rghat and you pretend no, may sicknee or lightning strike you with ah kwack Hun Xen!
PPU is Me Hun Mana ,daughter of A Me-Chor Hun Sen & Me Kachrouk Pig-h-D Bun Rany.She is one of Toul Krasaing IT-Groups under supervision of A Me Chor-Khmeng Hun Maneth.
2:20 AM, let me tell you this. In Cambodia no political figues dare to call PM Hun Sen names in the public. However, Hun Sen have been using all kinds of languages to call anyone who he is unhappy with in the public.
Hey listen up friend! ‘Youn’ always want you to fight with Samdech Daychu Hun Sen, wife and all his families and the rest of Cambodian people in the country. This is Khmer and Khmer fighting, and it’s not going to growth. In Phnom Penh now is getting worse due to chaos of group opposition party Sam Rainsy fighting with CPP. I don’t know when Khmer and Khmer should stop fighting.
AngkorianMan Krama Man
3:31 go to khmer rouge court and tell them how many Cambodian people death under your hand?
talking and showing concerns about Cambodia issues is the interfering cambodian internal issues. But inviting foreign troops to invade cambodia was not interfering cambodian sovereignty at all. sound's good??
Phnom Penh municipality did not help to stop the spread of H1N1 disease, but try to stop rumours about H1N1 in Cambodia. sound's great ??
to 3:56 AM
I do not have to go to court and I don’t want to cause problem with Khmer and Khmer. I am sorry for those who show up in court trying to put Duch down and guilty. I feel so sorry for Duch. I had been faithful to tell you that I was Khmer Rouge and you hate me!
AngkorianMan Krama Man
The heat is heated up too high now.
Each side Need to calm down.
Justice! Justice! There is no justice. One cannot find justice from man. God only will hand justice. God use Justice system to give justice to his people. Now justice system is perverted.
God will judge whose responsibility and duty is to deliver justice to his people. God also will judge the one , the leaders, who perverted the justice system as well.
To those who live to see will see how God will use what and who to deliver justice to Cambodian people.
CPP (Corrupted People Property)
PPU (Prosecute People Union)
3:56am with out your son of the bitch and your systematic Cambodia not become to be Hell like what it is now,so stop your ideologies because it is suck you know that sucker?
Democratic Kampuchea Pol Pot Khmer Rouge Regime had committed:
Tortures
Executions
Massacres
Atrocities
Crimes Against Humanity
Starvations
Overwork to Death
Slavery
Rapes
Human Abuses
Assault and Battery
Cambodian People's Party Hun Sen Khmer Rouge Regime had committed:
Assassinations
Assassinated Journalists
Assassinated Political Opponents
Assassinated Leader of the Free Trade Union
Attempted Assassinations on Chea Vichea and Sam Rainsy
Attempted Murders on Chea Vichea and Sam Rainsy
Executed members of FUNCINPEC Party
Murders members and activists of Sam Rainsy Party
Killings
Extrajudicial Execution
Grenade Attack
Terrorism
Drive by Shooting
Tortures
Intimidations
Death Threats
Threatening
Human Abductions
Human Rights Abuses
Human Trafficking
Drugs Trafficking
Under Age Child Sex
Corruptions
Bribery
Illegal Mass Evictions
Illegal Land Grabbing
Illegal Firearms
Illegal Logging
Illegal Deforestation
Illegally use of remote detonation on Sokha Helicopter, while Hok Lundy and others military official on board.
Illegally Sold State Properties
Illegally Remove Parliamentary Immunity of Parliament Members
Plunder National Resources
Acid Attacks
Turn Cambodia into a Lawless Country
Oppression
Injustice
Steal Votes
Bring Foreigners from Veitnam to vote in Cambodia for Cambodian People's Party.
Abuse the Court as a tools for CPP to send political opponents and journalists to jail.
Abuse of Power
Abuse the Laws
Abuse the National Election Committee
Abuse the National Assembly
Violate the Laws
Violate the Constitution
Violate the Paris Accords
Impunity
Under Cambodian People's Party Hun Sen Khmer Rouge Regime, no criminals that has been committed all of these crimes above within Hun Sen Khmer Rouge government have ever been brought to justice.
Just look at Hun Sen's face he's said, that's what you got! when you mess with me bitch!
No one dare to mess with Hun Sen! this guy is like RUSSIAN MAFIA!!
Ah tituy 2:20am you are stupid to say what you said. How could you say the court is right?
Dear all khmer people,
Be more alert, that Viet is doing something to destroying us inside cambodia right now! Viet is behind all of these, Viet don't want cambodia to grow and expands their economy and prosper...
Vietnamese government is behind all of these things...please be more careful!!!!
Dear all khmer people,
Be more alert, that Viet is doing something to destroying us inside cambodia right now! Viet is behind all of these, Viet don't want cambodia to grow and expands their economy and prosper...
Vietnamese government is behind all of these things...please be more careful!!!!
Dear all khmer people,
Be more alert, that Viet is doing something to destroying us inside cambodia right now! Viet is behind all of these, Viet don't want cambodia to grow and expands their economy and prosper...
Vietnamese government is behind all of these things...please be more careful!!!!
Specially Hun Sen! should realize that Hanoi is behind all these things, they let khmer killing each other again, this is exactly what Vietnamese governments are doing right now....don't fall into their traps...
Hun Sen is good in killing his own people only! this is what Vietnamese government wanted...
I wish King Sihanouk alarming Hun Sen that Vietnamese is behind all of these things....or he himself vietnamese?
Fucken useless oldfart KING mother fucker! Father of the lands my ass!! his ancestor given our lands away to Vietnam...for pussy!!
I hated being Khmer! that's why those Khmer Moan in Buriram, they considered themselves away from khmer, because KHMER KING had betrayal them....atleast Thai"CHAKRI DYNASTY have respect them as their nations better than Khmer KING!
Prakhan Chai Khmen
I totally agree with you! Khmer King Sihanouk and his family are good in running away when his own people drowning....
Man! this old midget really rans fast like lightning when comes to running....
See, as I said 10 days ago that "If the Court found the disgrace Mu Sochua not guilty, SRP and its stupid supporters will applause that the Court is independent and impartial, by contrast, if the same Court found the disgrace Mu Sochua guilty, SRP and its supporters will point their fingers blame to the Court". Now, it becomes the reality. So, as long as Cambodia's court doesn't give any verdict which is disgrace Mu Sochua wanted, SRP and its supporters will condemn to the Court no matter what they have broken the laws in Cambodia.
If the disgrace Mu Sochua is brave as she always said all along that, she's happy going to jail rather than pay the fine, she should honour her word and don't need to pay fine 16.5 Million Riel and let see what will happen??
In my view, I am sure that she will pay the fine and uses SRP's policy which wants to end this defamation case as an excuse to cover up her coward act.
Khmer Australian
Look at the candle that Mu Sochua holds is the same site of her white man's penis and the way she was screaming like she has screamed on the bed when her white man screw her up. Hahaha
Bigger and longer Mu Sochua likes it.
AH Choy Maray Ah Kwak Youn slave Aeng will die by lightning strike . wach...out! Even Akwak oversee supporters Tooo....
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