Hang Chakra (Photo: Sok Serey, RFA)Monday, 09 November 2009
Meas Sokchea and Sebastian Strangio
The Phnom Penh Post
KING Norodom Sihamoni has encouraged Prime Minister Hun Sen to request that Hang Chakra, the opposition newspaper publisher who received a one-year prison term in June after being convicted of disinformation, be granted amnesty and released.
In a letter dated October 27, the King said an earlier appeal from the Sam Rainsy Party had prompted him to push for amnesty.
“I have received a letter from the SRP dated October 23, 2009, asking me to give amnesty to Khmer Machas Srok newspaper publisher Hang Chakra, currently imprisoned at Prey Sar prison on disinformation charges,” the letter stated.
“I am submitting this letter to Samdech Techo [Hun Sen], head of the Royal Government, for consideration.”
On June 26, Phnom Penh Municipal Court convicted Hang Chakra of spreading disinformation, sentenced him to one year in prison and ordered him to pay 9 million riels (US$2,250) in fines.
The charge, which drew strong criticism from human rights groups and free speech advocates, stemmed from a series of articles Hang Chakra published in April and May accusing officials working under Deputy Prime Minister Sok An of corruption.
According to Article 27 of the Constitution, the King has “the right to grant partial or complete amnesty” to any Cambodian subject. But Sok Sam Oeun, executive director of the Cambodia Defenders Project, noted that a sub-decree predating the 1993 Constitution requires the premier to issue a formal request before amnesty can be granted.
Minister of Information Khieu Kanharith declined to comment in detail but said he supported the King’s decision to send a letter requesting amnesty for Hang Chakra.
“I support the King’s intention, but it depends on the plaintiff,” he said, referring to Sok An, who brought the charges against Hang Chakra.
But government lawyer Suong Chanthan, who prosecuted the case against Hang Chakra, said the decision whether to grant amnesty would “depend on the government, not on individuals”.
SRP spokesman Yim Sovann said the court system had displayed an obvious bias in the Hang Chakra case as well as in other disinformation and defamation cases involving government critics, meaning the only chance for justice would be through Royal intervention.
“The courts are not independent – they are influenced by the ruling party. We can’t trust anybody else but the King,” he said.
He added that the request for the release of Hang Chakra – whom Yim Sovann described as a “prisoner of conscience” – was an indication that the monarch recognised the unjust nature of the case against him. “By writing a letter to Hun Sen [about Hang Chakra], it’s a recognition he is innocent,” he said.
This is not the first time the King has intervened on behalf of a journalist, said Um Sarin, director of the Cambodian Association for the Protection of Journalists, who added that in cases of perceived bias on the part of the legal system, a royal plea is often the only recourse.
“It is the last resort of ordinary people,” he said.
When contacted on Sunday, Hang Chakra’s daughter, Hang Chanpisey, said her father’s health had deteriorated during his five months in prison.
“My father looks so thin. His face keeps getting thinner and thinner,” she said.
In a letter dated October 27, the King said an earlier appeal from the Sam Rainsy Party had prompted him to push for amnesty.
“I have received a letter from the SRP dated October 23, 2009, asking me to give amnesty to Khmer Machas Srok newspaper publisher Hang Chakra, currently imprisoned at Prey Sar prison on disinformation charges,” the letter stated.
“I am submitting this letter to Samdech Techo [Hun Sen], head of the Royal Government, for consideration.”
On June 26, Phnom Penh Municipal Court convicted Hang Chakra of spreading disinformation, sentenced him to one year in prison and ordered him to pay 9 million riels (US$2,250) in fines.
The charge, which drew strong criticism from human rights groups and free speech advocates, stemmed from a series of articles Hang Chakra published in April and May accusing officials working under Deputy Prime Minister Sok An of corruption.
According to Article 27 of the Constitution, the King has “the right to grant partial or complete amnesty” to any Cambodian subject. But Sok Sam Oeun, executive director of the Cambodia Defenders Project, noted that a sub-decree predating the 1993 Constitution requires the premier to issue a formal request before amnesty can be granted.
Minister of Information Khieu Kanharith declined to comment in detail but said he supported the King’s decision to send a letter requesting amnesty for Hang Chakra.
“I support the King’s intention, but it depends on the plaintiff,” he said, referring to Sok An, who brought the charges against Hang Chakra.
But government lawyer Suong Chanthan, who prosecuted the case against Hang Chakra, said the decision whether to grant amnesty would “depend on the government, not on individuals”.
SRP spokesman Yim Sovann said the court system had displayed an obvious bias in the Hang Chakra case as well as in other disinformation and defamation cases involving government critics, meaning the only chance for justice would be through Royal intervention.
“The courts are not independent – they are influenced by the ruling party. We can’t trust anybody else but the King,” he said.
He added that the request for the release of Hang Chakra – whom Yim Sovann described as a “prisoner of conscience” – was an indication that the monarch recognised the unjust nature of the case against him. “By writing a letter to Hun Sen [about Hang Chakra], it’s a recognition he is innocent,” he said.
This is not the first time the King has intervened on behalf of a journalist, said Um Sarin, director of the Cambodian Association for the Protection of Journalists, who added that in cases of perceived bias on the part of the legal system, a royal plea is often the only recourse.
“It is the last resort of ordinary people,” he said.
When contacted on Sunday, Hang Chakra’s daughter, Hang Chanpisey, said her father’s health had deteriorated during his five months in prison.
“My father looks so thin. His face keeps getting thinner and thinner,” she said.
6 comments:
The Cham guy should learned his fucken lesson for now on....
Thank you so much for promt attention of our king in order to maintain social order and justice for ordinary cambodians.
Our king does not hold any power in any management of RGC, but an active social roles as stipulated in articles 8 and 9.
Neang SA
NETWORK WORK WITH LOW AND BOWL HEAD TO THEM
If you are CPP you can say anything as you want like Soy Sopheap,if you are not CPP forget it,Preysar will follow....
Hang Chakra denounced the cold war between Hun Sen and Sok An.
Why they are very angry against Hang Chakra ?
If there is nothing wrong between the 2 CPP members, Hang Chakra would not be jailed.
Your Majesty Samdech Ta former King Norodom Sihanouk,
Prime Minister Samdech Hun Sen,
Thank you for your both kindness and understanding.
What we need is prevention methods, not to let this type of accident happen again in the future.
It also makes me very worried to see so much alcohol allowed to enter or be produced in our beloved Kingdom of Cambodia? What about “ YA BA “ and other types of DRUGS from Thailand and Vietnam?
Can His Majesty Samdech Ta and Samdech Hun Sen stop all sorts of drugs coming to Cambodia? The accident may not be related to drugs and alcohol but just some thing that I could not sleep peacefully from now on to the future, in the names sake of true Khmer citizen.
Can Samdech Hun Sen kindly ask all 5 million Vietnamese illegal immigrants to peacefully return to Vietnam, so Koh Pich will not be too crowded more and more every day, every month and every year to come.
All Vietnamese illegal immigrants can easily come in and settle inside Cambodia even though they already have their own country Vietnam.
When Cambodia is too crowded, definitely we Khmer people can not go to settle inside Vietnam, can we?
Please Vietnamese, you said you came to rescue us from Pol Pot, and you don’t want to return home, it is not right according to 23rd October 1991 Paris Peace Agreement, can all of you go back to your country now.
Vietnamese illegal immigrants, you see because 5 million of you are inside Cambodia, it makes us too crowded and we wasted our lives at Koh Pich without good reasons.
Your Vietnamese Communism expansionist mind in Cambodia, is to give an excuse to China mainland to occupy your Spratly Islands, Parcel Islands, the whole of your Eastern sea border and perhaps the Northern border sooner or later.
5 million Vietnamese illegal immigrants in Cambodia, please go back home to defend your country from Chinese mighty economic invasion.
May I pray to God and the Lord Jesus Christ that those who have lost loved one will be comforted.
My condolences to all the victim's family.
Regards,
Kulen Monorom
(The rice farmer's son)
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