CACJE's Statement on Mu Sochua's Case

Cambodian Action Committee for Justice & Equity (CACJE)
No: 3 Fountain Ave. Cranston RI, 02920 Web: www.cacje.net, Email: cacjepress9@gmail.com
“CACJE is an Alliance for People Power, Promote Social Justice and Support Human Equity”

(Official Translation in English)
June 21, 2009

DECLARATION

The Assembly of pirates, in other words, the Assembly of ghosts of Cambodia led by the Cambodian People Party (CPP), the puppet of Hanoi Government, in solidarity with the puppet Royal Government of Cambodia is using their absolute power to suppress the freedom of expression, especially the voice of democrats and nationalists of Cambodia.

Recently, the Assembly of pirates, the Assembly of ghosts of Cambodia imposed to the Assembly session an addendum CPP agenda to strip the parliamentary immunity of Ms. MU SOCHUA, the representative of the province of Kampot.

Additionally, the CPP wants Ms. MU SOCHUA be replaced instantly by a new appointed one as she was expulsed from the Assembly. This proves quite well that the Cambodian People Party (CPP) which is in fact the Communist Party of Cambodia which is by itself a branch of Vietnamese Communist Party of Indochina is aiming to reduce and eradicate the Cambodian democratic and nationalist forces, the solid defense pillar of Cambodian people.

The Assembly of pirates, the Assembly of ghosts of Cambodia, in other words the CPP won the elections always by the pirate way by stealing the ballot and by the vote of ghost voters. The CPP members are Vietnamese ghost MP working for Vietnamese interests against Cambodian national interests.

The return of communism power in Cambodia after the fall of Pol Pot regime, that’s the grab of power by Vietnamese puppet in Cambodia, by showing its savage fangs through lawsuits, incarceration, elimination and tortures of innocent people and by continuing threat against democrats and nationalists is happened because Prince NORODOM SIHANOUK has committed the abominable act of kicking out the United Nations representatives by ending their mission of protection of Cambodia sovereignty accordingly to the Paris Peace Agreement of October 23rd, 1991.

Cambodian Action Committee for Justice and Equity (CACJE) denounced the criminal act of the Cambodian People Party (CPP) of stripping the parliamentary immunity of Ms. MU SOCHUA, the representative of Kampot and the CPP pressure to rally Sam Raingsy Party members to appoint a new one to replace Ms. MU SOCHUA as MP.

Just in case there were Sam Raingsy Party members under the CPP pressure supporting the appointment of a new one to replace MU SOCHUA as dictated by HUN SEN, in order to please HUN SEN, it is essential to remind the Sam Raingsy Party that President Sam Raingsy had tasted already this bitter experience for being expulsed by the FUNCIPEC in 1995.

[Signed], SOURN SEREYRATHA

NA delays session to suspend Mu Sochua’s immunity

Mrs. Mu Sochua during the 19 June 2009 NA session (Photo: Ouk Savborey, RFA)

19 June 2009
By Ouk Savborey
Radio Free Asia
Translated from Khmer by Socheata
Click here to read the article in Khmer

On Friday 19 June, the Cambodian National Assembly (NA) decided to delay the agenda for the meeting to suspend the parliamentary immunity of SRP MP Mu Sochua. The meeting was delayed to next week because there was not enough meeting time left.

Mrs. Mu Sochua, who was also present during Friday session, said that her immunity suspension will take place on Monday 22 June. Mrs. Mu Sochua indicated also that she will not be present during this upcoming session because she has to attend a function overseas.

Nevertheless, she said that she is asking all MPs to give her time to provide clarifications on this issue first before they decide to suspend her immunity.

Mrs. Mu Sochua said: “I am confident that all the MPs will ask Samdach President of the NA (Heng Samrin) to hold a wide open discussion so that the voters understand and actually know the reason why a MP saw her immunity suspended. Since I am the one facing this immunity suspension, I should, at least, have the rights to discuss this issue and I hope that other MPs also want to listen to the cause first before they decided to vote to suspend my immunity or not.”

The NA planned to hold the session to suspend Mrs. Mu Sochua’s immunity on 19 June so that the court can question her in regards to Hun Sen’s counter-lawsuit against her for defamation. Hun Sen sued Mrs. Mu Sochua after she held a press conference where she indicated her plan to sue Hun Sen for defamation for the speech he gave in Kampot.

Mu Sochua added: “Samdach PM [Hun Sen] already declared that he acknowledged he did make these statements. In fact, he confessed to it! But, he did not name any name. Looking at everything combined, and considering that Samdach [Hun Sen] said that he wanted to provide a lesson to one woman, altogether, [that woman] was me. Therefore, Samdach [admitted] to making the statement, and when he replied to the deputy prosecutor, he again said that he did make the statements. Therefore, adding one and one together, what is the court waiting for? My [lawsuit] case [against Hun Sen] has all the proofs, but the court dismissed my case. So we want to know which side the balance of justice is tipping to? [The answer:] it is tipping toward Samdach PM [Hun Sen].”

Recently also, national and international communities have reacted to this issue, they said that the plan to lift Mrs. Mu Sochua parliamentary immunity is part of ruling CPP party’s threat against the opposition parties.

Critics slam PM lawsuit

Civil society group members sign a letter Monday to National Assembly President Heng Samrin against lifting Mu Sochua’s immunity. (Photo by: HENG CHIVOAN)

Wednesday, 17 June 2009
Written by Meas Sokchea
The Phnom Penh Post

Human Rights Watch, local unions and civil society groups condemn the govt's move to strip Mu Sochua's immunity.

THE attempt to lift opposition lawmaker Mu Sochua's parliamentary immunity to allow Prime Minister Hun Sen's lawsuit against her to proceed met with a chorus of local and international criticism Tuesday, prompting the government to claim there was nothing illegal about the move.

"Mu Sochua is not Aung San Suu Kyi in Myanmar," Cheam Yeap, a senior lawmaker for the ruling Cambodian People's Party and a member of National Assembly's Permanent Committee, told the Post on Tuesday.

"We are not doing anything illegal. You must understand this [prodedure] is not new. We have done it since Sam Rainsy was a minister of finance [and] we lifted Prince Norodom Ranariddh's parliamentary immunity," he said.

But on Tuesday, the Cambodian Confederation of Unions issued a statement saying its members, numbering some 85,000 workers, were deeply concerned over the attempt to strip the Kampot lawmaker of her immunity.

The attempt has no legal grounds, and the government should concern itself with easing the plight of the Kingdom's workers in difficult economic times, not personally motivated lawsuits, the statement said.

"Hun Sen has a long history of trying to muzzle Cambodia's political opposition."

It added that the union would organise mass protests if the National Assembly proceeded.

Criticism from overseas

"Hun Sen has a long history of trying to muzzle Cambodia's political opposition and undermine the independence of the legal profession," said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch, in a statement released by the New York-based watchdog late Monday.

"This most recent case should be ringing alarm bells among Cambodia's donors, particularly those who fund judicial and legal reform".

"These lawsuits are a clear attempt to intimidate the opposition and prevent members of parliament from exercising free expression," Adams said.

A decision on whether Mu Sochua will lose her immunity is expected Friday when the National Assembly votes on the issue.

Also Tuesday, around 40 civil society groups gathered at the offices of the NGO Gender and Development for Cambodia to seek intervention on the immunity issue.

"We do not side with the opposition party, but we don't want to see freedom of expression silenced," said Thida Khus, director of the Cambodian NGO Silaka.

"We do not want to see the laws being enforced unequally. One side [Mu Sochua] was dismissed, and one side [Hun Sen] was allowed to go ahead. This makes justice seem unbalanced."

But Cheam Yeap said the civil society concern came too late, as the National Assembly's Permanent Committee was already considering the matter.

CPP-controlled Nat. Ass. move the suspension of SRP MP Mu Sochua's parliamentary immunity to Friday 19 June 2009

Click on the agenda in Khmer to zoom in

Above is the agenda for the National Assembly (NA) plenary session to be held on Friday 19 June 2009. As can be seen here, the CPP-controlled NA moves the date for the suspension of SRP MP Mu Sochua's immunity from Monday 22 June 2009 to Friday 19 June 2009. As usual, the CPP tries to speed up the date of Mrs. Mu Sochua's immunity suspension, and it also tries to make this date to coincide with a day close to the weekend in order to minimize any social unrest impact.

Intimidation Against Opposition MP: Threat To Lift Mu Sochua's Immunity

April 29, 2009

Joint media statement by Civil Society organizations

INTIMIDATION AGAINST OPPOSITION MP: THREAT TO LIFT MU SOCHUA'S IMMUNITY

Cambodian civil society organizations condemn the reported threat to lift the parliamentary immunity of National Assembly member Mu Sochua.

The Sam Rainsy Party (SRP) MP last Thursday announced her intention to sue the Prime Minister for defamation, in connection with comments he made in a public speech in Kampot province on April 4. Within 24 hours of this, a pro-government television station quoted a Prime Ministerial advisor as saying the government would counter-sue Mu Sochua and that all Cambodian People's Party (CPP) MPs would support the lifting of her immunity.

"Arbitrarily threatening to suspend Mu Sochua's immunity, without any evidence of any crime having been committed by her, is a blatant act of intimidation against an opposition MP," said Ou Virak, president of the Cambodian Center for Human Rights (CCHR). "This is clearly intended to silence her and to dissuade her from exercising her lawful right to file a defamation lawsuit."

"MPs from all parties must be free to do their jobs, represent their interests of their constituents and speak out publicly on issues of public importance, without fear of arbitrary arrest and detention," said Pung Chhiv Kek, president of LICADHO. "The threat against Mu Sochua is yet another example of the dangerous environment facing opposition MPs in Cambodia."

"Parliamentary immunity exists so that MPs - from whatever party - can have the confidence to discuss contentious issues of importance to the public without fear of retribution. It is not something which should be taken away at the whim of government officials," said Yeng Virak, executive director of Community Legal Education Centre (CLEC).

There is a history of opposition MPs' immunity being lifted to allow prosecutions on flimsy criminal charges. The most recent example is SRP MP Cheam Channy, whose immunity was lifted in February 2005 and who was then arrested and convicted on unsubstantiated charges of creating a rebel army. His trial by the Military Court was widely criticized for being grossly unfair, and an independent expert UN panel later ruled that his imprisonment violated both Cambodian and international law. He was released after 18 months in prison.

"If Mu Sochua's immunity is lifted, it will only prove the very point that she is trying to make - that opposition MPs are not free to do their jobs without fear of intimidation and persecution," said Koul Panha, Executive Director of the Committee for Free and Fair Elections in Cambodia (COMFREL).

"Such a threat against an MP is doubly sad when it's against one of the few active women politicians in a country where women's voices are frequently suppressed and ignored," said Thida Khus, executive director of Silaka.

Cambodian civil society organizations call upon the Phnom Penh court to deal with all relevant complaints in an independent and impartial manner, and for National Assembly members from all parties to protect the role of their institution and its elected representatives. As such, they should refrain from lifting any MP's immunity unless there is compelling evidence of a crime having occurred.

This statement is endorsed by the following Cambodian civil society organizations:

Cambodian Center for Human Rights (CCHR)
Cambodian League for the Promotion & Defense of Human Rights (LICADHO)
Community Legal Education Centre (CLEC)
Committee for Free & Fair Elections in Cambodia (COMFREL)
Coordination of Action Research on Aids and Mobility (CARAM)
Gender and Development for Cambodia (GAD/C)
Khmer Institute for Democracy (KID)
Neutral and Impartial Committee for Free and Fair Election in Cambodia (NICFEC)
SILAKA