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| Mam Sonando (C), owner of a local independent radio station and land rights campaigner, gestures as he arrives at the Appeal Court in Phnom Penh, March 5, 2013. |
By VOA News
WASHINGTON DC - A Cambodian court has begun the appeal hearing of a prominent government critic sentenced to 20 years in prison on insurrection charges.
Mam Sonando, who heads the independent Beehive Radio station, told reporters upon entering the court in Phnom Penh on Tuesday that he is not optimistic about winning the appeal.
Sonando told the court that the charges against him are politically motivated. He said he is being unfairly blamed for unrest triggered by a wave of forced evictions.
Hundreds of Sonando's supporters gathered outside the appeals court Tuesday. One of the protesters, Yim Nou, said the charges should be dropped.
"I want the court to release him. He's a good man. He did nothing wrong," said Yim Nou.
The appeal process is expected to last three days.
The 71-year-old was convicted in October on charges of encouraging villagers to form their own state following a land dispute in eastern Cambodia.
Cambodia has carried out an intensifying series of sometimes violent forced evictions affecting tens of thousands of people. Activists say officials are increasingly cracking down on those who challenge the land grabs.
Sonando's radio station, known as Beehive Radio, has been outspoken on the issue of land rights. It broadcasts material critical of Prime Minister Hun Sen, who has ruled Cambodia since 1985.
But Sonando says his station was not involved in the unrest, which the government viewed as a rebellion.
Beehive Radio carries programming for both Voice of America and Radio Free Asia.
Some information for this report was provided by AP and AFP.
3 comments:
យួនបង្កើត ក្រុមខ្មែរវៀតមិញ!
យួនក៏បង្កើត ក្រុមខ្មែរវៀតមិញថ្មី គឺ :
-អាស្វា សម រង្សី
-អាស្វា កឹម សុខា,និង
-មីស្វា មួ សុខហួ សំរាប់សង្រ្គោះអាយួនដែរ!
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បើខ្មែរចង់សើច...សូមកុំទៅបោះឆ្នោតជាមួយយួន!
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បើខ្មែរចង់យំ អស់ដី........បោះឆ្នោតទៀតទៅ!
fighting each other instead of fighting against the common enemy (youn). what's wrong with us Cambodians.
7:30 am, if you don't have anything better to do, please calm down and stop hating your follow Khmer. why are you so angry?
VC told Hun Sen to put Mam Sonando and Sam Rainsy in jail, but sadly Hun Sen did as told. But if Hun is smart like the VC and the Chinese, he should turn around and say 'this is my county, I will not put my fellow brothers and sisters in jail for your benefit'. In the political world, life is like a 'yin and yang' or 'pro and con' , without it, the gov't system will not be effective.
it is likely to be doomed soon or later. Today, Viets and Chinese are sending thousands of students to study in the west and once they completed, they are encouraged to go back home to help to run the nation and country. But in Cambodia, those neighbouring country are taking advantage of us and our downfall and trying to push us to the corner by directing our leader like Hun Sen to destroy his own educated people and then what? leaving Hun Sen as their puppet and slave to them at the end of the day.
They did this before to Kingta and Pol Pot, they promised them the world, but in the end only to lead to stray. They used the tactic of 'killing two bird with one stone'. They put on the fuel and fired them, then, they said 'khmers killed khmers' and then, they laugh....In the end Kingta and Pol Pot said 'we have been betrayed by VC, we believed in them and now they ruined all of us'. In addition, they did this to the U.S armies too. They let their Viet whores to lure all the soldiers and then killed them after having sex during WWII known as the 'Tet Attack'.
Today, everyone around the world knows what the VC are capable off 'killing two birds with one stone'. Hun Sen please wake up, please let Mam Sonando and other educated ones go for the benefit of our nation. Please try to learn from the past and then you will see the future, e.g Loas, Champa, Khmer Khrom, khmer indigenous etc...don't let history repeat itself. Please be smarter.
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