SRP lawyer’s take different on ‘jail break’

Monday, 26 December 2011
May Titthara
The Phnom Penh Post

Opposition Sam Rainsy Party lawyer Choung Chougy yesterday denied allegations lodged against him by Kandal provincial authorities that he had helped his client escape from prison earlier this year.

The lawyer said that he helped facilitate the release of his client, Banteay Dek commune chief Meas Peng, on September 23 after the villager had been arrested for incitement in Kien Svay district.

Choung Chougy said that Meas Peng had been illegally detained without an arrest warrant, and after explaining this to the prison director, Muong Sam Ath, the commune chief was released.

However, last week, speaking to local media outlets, Muong Sam Ath accused Meas Peng of escaping from prison and Choung Chougy of engineering the getaway. And earlier this month, the National Assembly suspended the immunity of SRP lawmaker Chan Cheng in order for him to respond to questioning about Meas Peng’s alleged escape, at the urging of Kandal provincial prosecutor Ouk Kimseth.

លិខិតបំភ្លឺរបស់លោកមេធាវី ជូង ជូងី ផ្ញើជូនលោក ហេង សំរិន ប្រធានរដ្ឋសភា - Chuong Chou-ngy's clarification letter to Heng Xamrin

Victim Informatio​n Form - for "Complaina​nt" or "Civil Party" - Cases 003 and 004

Theary Seng (Photo: RFA)

Monday, April 11, 2011

Tonight, 8:50 - 9:30 P.M. (Cambodia time), my lawyer Choung Chou-Ngy and I will be taking calls on Hello VOA regarding the filing of applications to Cases 003 and 004.

Victims, during ALL PHASES of the criminal proceeding, can file to become a "complainant" (assisting the co-prosecutors) or an independent "civil party".

Another reason why Mr. Lars Olsen is wrong on the timing of when victims can file; this Victim Information Form opens for victims to file from the INCEPTION of Cases 003/004 when they were still with the Co-Prosecutors.

Status of Cases 003/004: The Office of Co-Prosecutors has conducted the first phase of initial investigation and the UN prosecutor has forwarded the Introductory Submission to the Office of Co-Investigating Judges, the second phase of investigation.

For the last 19 months, these Cases 003 and 004 have been sitting dormant with "no field investigation being conducted".

- Theary Seng, Civil Party applicant to Cases 003/004

Press Conference on the Lawsuit against KR military commanders Meas Muth and Sou Met in ECCC Case 003/004 by Civil Party applicant Theary C. Seng with lawyer Mr. Choung Chou-Ngy and national and international media

Press Conference on the Lawsuit against KR military commanders Meas Muth and Sou Met in ECCC Case 003/004 by Civil Party applicant Theary C. Seng with lawyer Mr. Choung Chou-Ngy and national and international media (Phnom Penh, 4 April 2011)

Appeal Court upheld lower court decision in Sam Rainsy’s border lawsuit case

Choung Chou-ngy (L), Sam Rainsy's defense lawyer, and Ky Tech (R), the government lawyer (Photo: Sok Serey, RFA)

08 June 2010
By Sok Serey
Radio Free Asia
Translated from Khmer by Heng Soy
Click here to read the article in Khmer

The Appeal Court upheld the decision handed by the Phnom Penh municipal court in the Svay Rieng border lawsuit case.

On Tuesday 08 June, the Cambodian Appeal Court upheld the decision handed down by the Phnom Penh municipal court to reject the request made by opposition leader Sam Rainsy to form a special commission to survey the coordinates for the various border posts in Svay Rieng province, along the Cambodian-Viet border,

The decision was made behind closed door at the Appeal Court presided by Judge Nhong Thol and 2 other judges: Chuon Sunleng and Seng Sivutha. The hearing was dubbed: investigation assembly.

Following the announcement of the court decision, Choung Chou-ngy, opposition leader Sam Rainsy’s defense lawyer, said that he is still thinking about appealing this case to the Supreme Court or not.

He added: “The rejection was done without investigation of the charge, i.e. the charge still remains. The investigation assembly believes that it is not the court duty to form this commission, and it based this [decision] on the fact that there is a government border committee already. I told [the court] that the government border committee is the entity that accuses my client. The fact that I am asking for a setup of a joint committee is for it to be mixed and neutral, with the participation of my client also.”

Ky Tech, the government lawyer, is gleeful about this decision, claiming that this is the right decision by the Appeal Court.

Ky Tech said: “Just now, the investigation assembly issued its decision and it said that it does not allow it, just like the Phnom Penh tribunal of first instance: this commission cannot be formed. Based on Sections 124 and 125 of the criminal law, the investigating judge must do the work, i.e. [the investigating judge] investigates on the topic and the charges leveled by the prosecutor, i.e. what the prosecutor charged. The investigating judge will investigate on this problem. This does not mean that we are forming a commission as they accused, as they sued for, it is about the falsification on this document.”

In May of this year, the Phnom Penh municipal court rejected all the request made by Sam Rainsy to set up a special 6-member commission to survey the coordinates of border stakes located in Samrong commune, Chantrea district, Svay Rieng province, delimiting the border between Cambodia and Vietnam, i.e. at border posts no. 184, 185, 186 and 187.

The Phnom Penh municipal court was requested to form a special commission after the Svay Rieng provincial court sentenced Sam Rainsy in absentia to 2-year of jail term on 27 January 2010, accusing him of destroying public property and incitement to racial discrimination because he led a number of Cambodian villagers in Svay Rieng to uproot border stakes at border post no. 185 on 29 October 2009, after the villagers claimed that these stakes were planted on their rice fields.

Ky Tech indicated that he and officials at the government border committee handed a number of documents on the coordinates of the border stakes to Sam Rainsy’s lawyer through the Phnom Penh municipal court on Monday.

Choung Chou-ny, Sam Rainsy’s defense lawyer, said that he did not receive these documents, nor copied them yet.

The documents consist of coordinates that government border experts have already surveyed.

Editor to appeal sentence

Monday, 29 June 2009
Written by Sam Rith and Sebastian Strangio

Hang Chakra verdict threatens press freedoms, journalists say.

An attorney for opposition-aligned newspaper editor Hang Chakra said Sunday that they would appeal a Phnom Penh Municipal Court ruling last week that found him guilty of spreading disinformation, a decision that has prompted a storm of protest from local journalists and media organisations.

In a hearing Friday, Judge Din Sivuthy found Khmer Machas Srok News editor Hang Chakra, 55, guilty under the UNTAC Criminal Code for a series of articles he published in April and May accusing officials working under Deputy Prime Minsiter Sok An of corruption. The court then sentenced him to one year in prison and fined him 9,000,000 riels (US$2,167).

"I will file the complaint to the Appeal Court as soon as possible. I will ask the [Appeal] Court to release my client," said Hang Chakra's lawyer Choung Chou Ngy.

"My client has not received any justice. The court focused mostly on punishing him rather than finding out the truth of the accusations."

Choung Chou Ngy said Hang Chakra was incarcerated at Prey Sar prison, adding that he was to meet with his client today to plan his appeal.

Meanwhile, the jailing of Hang Chakra has been roundly condemned by local journalists, who have decried the decision to prosecute defamation cases under the UNTAC Criminal Code rather than the Kingdom's more liberal 1995 Press Law.

Under the Press Law, publishing false information carries a fine of up to 5 million riels, but under the UNTAC law offenders face prison terms of between six months and three years and a fine of up to 10 million riels.

"[The courts] have never implemented the Press Law in the case of journalists.... They accuse them only of defamation, incitement or insults," said Dam Sith, the publisher and editor-in-chief of the opposition-aligned daily newspaper Moneaksekar Khmer.

Dam Sith, who was detained in Prey Sar prison for a week in June 2008 for reprinting controversial comments made by opposition leader Sam Rainsy, described the arrest and detention of Hang Chakra as a "threat" to journalists who do not toe the government's line.

Sam Rithy Doung Hak, deputy director of the Cambodian Association for the Protection of Journalists, said the Hang Chakra ruling was a case of "deja vu", drawing parallels with a similar crackdown in 2005.

"The government is taking action against whoever it considers to be its critics. It is part of the whole package of the drift towards dictatorship," he said.

Criticism from journalists
The Club of Cambodian Journalists (CCJ) and the Cambodia Watchdog Council also issued statements over the weekend slamming the court's decision.

However, government lawyer Suong Chanthan said he was pleased with the outcome and defended the court's decision to prosecute Hang Chakra under the UNTAC law, saying Hang Chakra had published many "false" articles, in addition to the two - printed on April 5 and May 2 this year - referenced in this case.

But other critics said the prosecution took place on shaky legal ground. Moeun Chhean Nariddh, director of the Cambodia Institute for Media Studies and veteran journalist, said the Press Law was clear in stating that no other law could be used to prosecute journalists.

"The Press Law must supersede the UNTAC Law," he said, though he added that the courts were vulnerable to abuse.

"The government still does not understand what freedom of press and freedom of expression are in a real democracy. The government knows it can do anything," he said.