Hang Chakra (Photo: Sok Serey, RFA)Friday, August 14, 2009
Liam Cochrane
ABC Radio Australia
The conviction of a newspaper editor in Cambodia this week over articles inquiring into government corruption will increase the control of the ruling Cambodian People's Party's over the media, observers say.
The Phnom Penh Appeal Court upheld a criminal conviction on editor Hang Chakra.
Chakra looks set to spend a year in jail on charges of disinformation after publishing articles earlier this year alleging widespread corruption by officials working for Cambodia's deputy Prime Minister, Sok An.
Rights group Human Rights Watch and non-government agencies say the verdict is the latest in a series of legal attacks against critics of the government.
Defamation charge
Moeun Chhean Narridh, director of the Cambodian Institute for Media Studies, told Radio Australia's Connect Asia Chakra is the editor-in-chief of Khmer Majest Throp newspaper, an opposition-aligned publication.
"He was charged with damaging the national interest, as well as defaming the Council of Ministers."
Kathleen O'Keefe, co-founder of the Phnom Penh Post and a media trainer, said: "What we are seeing is that the judiciary is increasingly being used to attack anybody who expresses dissenting opinion.
"It's really part of a larger attack or larger crackdown on free expression, which has been intensifying since 2005."
Ms O'Keefe believes the conviction will have a major impact on the media, "particularly in the wake of last year's assassination of a journalist in Phnom Prenh just before the elections, (which) sent a resounding message to the entire press corps that they should think very, very carefully before writing anything."
In July last year, journalist Khim Sambor - a contributor to another paper alligned to the opposition Sam Rainsy party - was riding on a scooter with his 21-year-old son when two men on a motorcycle shot him dead and fatally wounded the son.
Important
Ms O'Keefe said: "I think the Chakra case, it's very important, because it notes regression of freedom of expression. This is the first time in many, many years that a journalist has not only been imprisoned, but he's tried and convicted on criminal charges.
"Until recently, we were moving away from killing journalists in the streets and putting them in jail."
Continuing critical comments about the media were more intimidation "but they were less violent. So what we are doing is returning to the violence and the imprisonment of media".
Narridh said the present environment confirmed to Cambodian journalists that they "have to exercise censorship by refraining from reporting on controversial or sensitive issues related to corruption, land grabbing or injustice committed by rich businessmen or high-ranking officials.
"So even the usually outspoken opposition newspapers have now tried to keep a low profile," the media studies head said.
The Phnom Penh Appeal Court upheld a criminal conviction on editor Hang Chakra.
Chakra looks set to spend a year in jail on charges of disinformation after publishing articles earlier this year alleging widespread corruption by officials working for Cambodia's deputy Prime Minister, Sok An.
Rights group Human Rights Watch and non-government agencies say the verdict is the latest in a series of legal attacks against critics of the government.
Defamation charge
Moeun Chhean Narridh, director of the Cambodian Institute for Media Studies, told Radio Australia's Connect Asia Chakra is the editor-in-chief of Khmer Majest Throp newspaper, an opposition-aligned publication.
"He was charged with damaging the national interest, as well as defaming the Council of Ministers."
Kathleen O'Keefe, co-founder of the Phnom Penh Post and a media trainer, said: "What we are seeing is that the judiciary is increasingly being used to attack anybody who expresses dissenting opinion.
"It's really part of a larger attack or larger crackdown on free expression, which has been intensifying since 2005."
Ms O'Keefe believes the conviction will have a major impact on the media, "particularly in the wake of last year's assassination of a journalist in Phnom Prenh just before the elections, (which) sent a resounding message to the entire press corps that they should think very, very carefully before writing anything."
In July last year, journalist Khim Sambor - a contributor to another paper alligned to the opposition Sam Rainsy party - was riding on a scooter with his 21-year-old son when two men on a motorcycle shot him dead and fatally wounded the son.
Important
Ms O'Keefe said: "I think the Chakra case, it's very important, because it notes regression of freedom of expression. This is the first time in many, many years that a journalist has not only been imprisoned, but he's tried and convicted on criminal charges.
"Until recently, we were moving away from killing journalists in the streets and putting them in jail."
Continuing critical comments about the media were more intimidation "but they were less violent. So what we are doing is returning to the violence and the imprisonment of media".
Narridh said the present environment confirmed to Cambodian journalists that they "have to exercise censorship by refraining from reporting on controversial or sensitive issues related to corruption, land grabbing or injustice committed by rich businessmen or high-ranking officials.
"So even the usually outspoken opposition newspapers have now tried to keep a low profile," the media studies head said.
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