Out on Bail, Editor Vows Same Coverage

Dam Sith with SRP MP Ho Vann following his release (Photo: Cambodge Soir Hebdo)
Dam Sith with SRP MP Kuoy Bunroeun following his release (Photo: Koh Santepheap)
Dam Sith talking to reporters following his releaser (Photo: Koh Santepheap)

By Heng Reaksmey, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
16 June 2008

Opposition editor Dam Sith vowed on Monday to continue critical coverage of the government following his release on bail Sunday, with defamation and disinformation charges still pending.

Dam Sith, who is the defendant in a suit led by Foreign Minister Hor Namhong, was jailed for a week and became the center of debate over media freedom and pre-election intimidation.

The editor said Monday his stance was the same and his newspaper was publishing as it did before, criticizing the government on corruption issues and standing for the opposition party.

Dam Sith was released following an official request from Prime Minister Hun Sen delivered to Phnom Penh Municipal Court Judge Chhay Kong Saturday.

In an interview with VOA Khmer Monday, Dam Sith said he was thankful to Hun Sen, but he said, "My newspaper will never change. We will always publish criticism of the government."

The newspaper, Moneaksekar Khmer, was established Aug. 4, 1994, and has continuously supported the opposition Sam Rainsy Party, Dam Sith said. The black-and-white paper is a daily publication of four pages, one broadsheet folded in half.

The arrest of Dam Sith was part of a long line of intimidation and threats, said Sam Rainsy Party Secretary-General Eng Chhay Ieng.

Opposition journalists always receive threats, he said, and over the years at least one has been killed.

Nun Chan, editor-in-chief of the opposition paper Serei Pheap Thmei, or New Freedom, was shot dead in 1995.

Pro-opposition editor bailed

Dam Sith (L) smells freedom yesterday leaving Phnom Penh's Prey Sar Prison, accompanied by Kuoy Bunroeun (SRP MP).

Monday, 16 June 2008
Neth Pheaktra
The Mekong Times

After an arrest and detention that has provoked fierce international criticism, Dam Sith, editor-in-chief of the pro-Sam Rainsy Moneaksekar Khmer newspaper, was yesterday released from Prey Sar Prison on bail.

The release came after a personal appeal from Prime Minister Hun Sen to Phnom Penh Municipal Court President Chiv Keng.

Dam Sith, also standing as a SRP parliamentarian candidate for Phnom Penh, thanked newspapers, national and international civil society organizations, politicians, SRP leaders and Prime Minister Hun Sen for their help in securing his release.

Despite thanking Hun Sen for his intervention, Dam Sith stressed he will not change his political orientation and that Moneaksekar Khmer will continue to be pro-opposition. “I, Dam Sith, will continue to maintain my original stance,” he emphasized.

“One could say that my release is an improvement in press freedom. But for me, [the arrest] is a violation of a journalist’s rights. The arrest shows the pressure on journalists and the political sector as well,” Dam Sith told reporters upon his release.

The premier’s role in Dam Sith’s release was uncertain, with Dam Sith himself saying he had only heard of Hun Sen’s intervention over the radio.

Hun Sen said yesterday he had ordered Dam Sith to be bailed “because [I] see that Dam Sith cannot run away.” The premier underlined that Dam Sith would still face legal proceedings.

Sam Rainsy said Dam Sith’s release was “no thanks to anyone.”

“[The] arrest and release of Dam Sith is a piece of theater that should not have happened since the beginning,” he said. “[O]ur authorities are dictatorial, do not respect the law, legal procedure and constitutional law. … This means that democracy in our country is moving backwards.”

Media and civil society organizations, journalists and the Ministry of Information welcomed Dam Sith’s release.

Information Minister Khieu Kanharith, who last week requested the Phnom Penh Municipal Court release Dam Sith, could not be reached for comment. However, Thieng Vandarong, under secretary of state at the Information Ministry said: “On behalf of the Ministry of Information, we welcome the decision of the Phnom Penh Municipal Court to release Dam Sith on bail at Samdech Decho Hun Sen’s request.”

Pen Samithy, president of the Club of Cambodian Journalists (CCJ), said he was “very pleased” over Dam Sith’s release. “The CCJ continues to observe the case,” he said. “We also hope that Hor Nam Hong will withdraw his lawsuit against Dam Sith and that he will file his complaint only against Sam Rainsy.”

Local human rights group president Kek Galabru expressed concern over other cases that have not received Hun Sen’s attention. She said that Cambodia “must abide by the foundations of democracy that it has promised … the right and freedom of access to information and freedom of expression.”

Cambodia Editor Freed on Bail Ahead of Election

Jun 15, 2008
Reuters

PHNOM PENH—A Cambodian newspaper editor and opposition candidate was freed on bail on Sunday after a outcry from rights activists who accused the government of trying to silence critics ahead of a July general election.

Dam Sith, a candidate for the opposition Sam Rainsy Party, was charged last week with defaming Foreign Minister Hor Namhong in an article about the Khmer Rouge, the regime blamed for the deaths of 1.7 million Cambodians in the 1970s.

"This is about putting pressure on journalists. This is all about politics," Dam Sith, editor of the Khmer Conscience newspaper, told reporters after he was granted bail.

Amnesty International said Dam Sith's arrest demonstrated how the criminal justice system "is used and abused" to silence critics of the government in the runup to the July 27 poll.

"His arrest sends a message of fear to journalists and other media workers in the lead-up to national elections next month," the human rights group said last week.

The government of Prime Minister Hun Sen has denied any wrongdoing.

Hun Sen, a former Khmer Rouge soldier who has been in power over the last 23 years, and his Cambodian People's Party are widely expected to win the parliamentary election, possibly with a clear majority of seats.

Hun Sen said early this month that his former co-premier Norodom Ranariddh, now a major opponent who has formed his own political party, would face jail if he returned to the country.

Ranariddh was found guilty last year in an embezzlement suit brought against him by colleagues in the royalist FUNCINPEC party who had ousted him as party leader.

Ranariddh, who was sentenced in absentia to 18 months in prison, has spent most of his time since the trial in self-imposed exile in Malaysia.

Ka-set scoop: Dam Sith released

Dam Sith (Photo: RFA)

Journalist Dam Sith freed: Hun Sen vouches for him

15 June 2008
By Duong Sokha et Stéphanie Gée
Ka-set
Unofficial translation from French by Tola Ek
Click here to read the original scoop by Ka-set in French
Click here to read the original scoop by Ka-set in Khmer

At his exit from jail at 11:00 AM on Sunday 15 June, Dam Sith, the editor-in-chief of the pro-Sam Rainsy Party Moneaksekar Khmer (Khmer Conscience) newspaper, thanked “the embassies, the associations of journalists, SRP MPs, and Sam Rainsy in particular, and Samdach Hun Sen for their intervention in his release.” Nevertheless, Dam Sith insisted that he “maintains his position,” and his position at the head of his newspaper.

The news started to spread since Saturday evening in Phnom Penh. On Saturday, Prime minister Hun Sen wrote to the Phnom Penh court requesting the bail release for Dam Sith who was arrested since 08 June, and he was immediately incarcerated thereafter. Hun Sen brought some weight into the matter: he personally vouched for Dam Sith, “as the prime minister.” The court had to abide by this request a few hours later. Dam Sith’s lawyer, Chung Chungy, said that he is “happy” to see Hun Sen’s intervention which he judged to be “very effective.” Last Monday, Khieu Kanharith, the minister of Information, and the SRP MPs, had separately called on the court to release Dam Sith. But, it was futile. On Friday, Judge Chhay Kong rejected the prior official request made by Dam Sith’s lawyer.

Sam Rainsy also said that he is “delighted” by the good news, while adding that he wished “this case never even take place.” “[This release] only serves to put things back to normal. A lot of time and energy has been wasted … This is regrettable, this is what happens when a single person decides about everything: the arrest and the release … The court is bypassed, and the Parliament is also bypassed…” Sam Rainsy reminded also that Dam Sith received “fabulous offers from the CPP, but he refused, preferring to remain faithful to his ideals.” “This arrest was done to punish him for not selling himself out.”

Dam Sith still remains the target of the defamation and disinformation lawsuit brought up against him by Hor Namhong, the minister of Foreign Affairs, who accused him of reporting in his newspaper the speech given by opposition leader Sam Rainsy. In this speech, Sam Rainsy indicated that the government still includes former Khmer Rouge officials, in particular the foreign minister who was allegedly the former chief of the Boeng Trabek jail.

Pen Samithy, editor-in-chief of the Rasmei Kampuchea newspaper, wrote in the Sunday’s edition of his newspaper that the Club of Cambodian Journalists (CCJ), which he presides, wishes to see Hor Namhong withdrawing his lawsuit against Dam Sith. Dam Sith indicated also that he asked his lawyer to discuss with Hor Namhong’s lawyer in order to convince him to withdraw the lawsuit. “If he (Hor Namhong) refuses, I will send my complaint to the Khmer Rouge Tribunal so that it examines Hor Namhong’s responsibilities [under the Pol Pot regime] at the Boeng Trabek detention camp,” Dam Sith said.

The arrest of a journalist brought protests from other journalists, as well as from human right activists, both inside and outside the country. As mentioned several times in the past, Dam Sith is also a SRP candidate for the upcoming 27 July general election for the city of Phnom Penh.