Club Asks Minister for Help With Jailed Journalist

News anchor Soy Sopheap, has complained of anonymous texts to the Ministry of Interior, whose police subsequently arrested and charged Ros Sokhet (pictured) with criminal disinformation. (Photo: Koh Santepheap)

Chun Sakada, VOA Khmer
Phnom Penh Monday, 11 October 2010

“If the information minister has the initiative to find the legal possibility of solving the case of Ros Sokhet, I completely support the initiative.”

Information Minister Khieu Kanharith has asked a jailed journalist to write a letter requesting his intervention, following a meeting with a local journalist organization.

The journalist, Ros Sokhet, was sentenced to two years in prison in November 2009, after he sent a series of text messages to a famous news anchor that were deemed threatening.

The news anchor, Soy Sopheap, has said he complained of anonymous texts to the Ministry of Interior, whose police subsequently arrested and charged Ros Sokhet with criminal disinformation.

“If the information minister has the initiative to find the legal possibility of solving the case of Ros Sokhet, I completely support the initiative,” Soy Sopheap said Monday.

Ros Sokhet's Appeals Court hearing is scheduled for Friday, and the Press Council of Cambodia has asked the Information Ministry to aid on Ros Sokhet's behalf.

Following a meeting with the press club on Monday, Khieu Kanharith said he wanted Ros Sokhet to write a letter requesting his help. He would then meet with Ministry of Justice officials, he said.

Press Council President Sok Sovann said Monday the club had asked for help in Ros Sokhet's release because the journalist's mother is aging and ill.

Defense lawyer Som Sokong said he would discuss the possibility of the request with Ros Sokhet, “so that the Appeals Court will make a fair hearing.”

Defamation fight to come before the bar

Tuesday, 18 May 2010
Cameron Wells and Chrann Chamroeun
The Phnom Penh Post

CHILD protection NGO Action Pour Les Enfants (APLE) is set to file a complaint with the Cambodian Bar Association regarding a lawyer who has accused the group of entrapping foreigners suspected of committing sex crimes.

Samleang Seila, APLE’s country director, confirmed the complaint would be lodged today, following a defamation lawsuit filed against the lawyer at Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Wednesday.

“We will ask the bar association to consider a fine, a professional suspension, or to cancel his lawyer’s license,” he said.

Defence lawyer Dun Vibol, who often represents foreigners in child sex cases, told the Post on May 10 that he believed entrapment had been employed by APLE “in most sex cases related to foreigners”, reiterating claims he has previously made in court.

Sok Sam Oeun, director of the legal aid organisation Cambodia Defenders Project, during a conference on May 7 also accused local NGOs and police of engaging in entrapment, although he declined to name which NGOs were complicit in the practice.

In its lawsuit, APLE accused Dun Vibol of lacking evidence to back up his accusations and deliberately slandering APLE to sway the group’s foreign donors, its partnerships with other NGOs and international law enforcement agencies. It states that Dun Vibol’s comments “damaged the reputation, dignity and determination of staff” at APLE.

The suit seeks to charge Dun Vibol under Article 63 of the 1992 UNTAC Criminal Code, which defines defamation as “any allegation or imputation” that harms the honour or reputation of an individual.

“We will ask for 20 million riels [around US$4,820] compensation, and a fine of 10 million riels [$2,440],” Samleang Seila added.

Phnom Penh Municipal Court officials could not be reached for comment Monday. But Dun Vibol said the complaints were “unacceptable”, and pledged to file a countersuit if the courts dropped the defamation charge.

“I would prepare a countersuit defamation charge against APLE if I find out that it has deliberately destroyed my reputation,” he said. “I will find evidence to defend myself by revealing APLE reports of its investigations against suspects.”

He again repeated claims that APLE allowed child sex crimes to occur despite having prior knowledge of them, in order to catch foreign men red-handed.

“They file records to police and court prosecutors two or three days in advance, before nabbing the foreigners,” he said, adding that APLE should have made “a thorough consideration” before bringing the case to court.

Separate case
APLE is also awaiting a decision after a separate complaint lodged with the Bar Association in June last year, when it accused Dun Vibol of bribing officials to change the age of a victim in a child sex case from 16 at the time of the abuse to 19, before submitting the forged documents with the falsified age to the courts.

Dun Vibol has previously denied that he submitted forged documents to the courts, but admitted paying an official $50 in “tea money” to expedite the process of confirming the age of the victim.

Bar association President Chiv Songhak could not be reached for comment Monday, but said last Wednesday that the investigation into the complaint would soon be complete.

Freedom of the press redux? King-Father wants to sue the Sralanh Khmer newspaper

Portion of the Friday's edition of the Sralanh Khmer newspaper article reporting the accusations made by Mr. Yin Sem (rigth). (Photo: Sralanh Khmer newspaper)

19 March 2007
King-Father wants to sue the Sralanh Khmer newspaper
Everyday.com.kh
Translated from Khmer by Socheata

The Sralanh Khmer article (in Khmer) about the accusations made by Mr. Yin Sem, a French-Cambodian citizen, can be read here by clicking here:
Part 1 of the article
Part 2 of the article

Former King Norodom Sihanouk is planning to sue the Sralanh Khmer newspaper, a newspaper supporting the SRP, after the publication by the newspaper of an article last week which accused the former monarch[‘s involvement with] the Khmer Rouge regime. The Cambodia Daily said that in a message sent by email, King-Father is asking Kong Som Ol, the royal palace official, to bring a lawsuit in his name and that of his wife, Quen-Mother Norodom Monineath, against the editor of the Sralanh Khmer newspaper as well as the author of the article. King-Father said that the long article published by the newspaper attacked him and looked down on him unjustly, and that the article distort the history of Cambodia, as well as defaming his honor, and defaming the honor of the Khmer monarchy of the 20th and 21st century. The two-part article published by the Sralanh Khmer newspaper on Thursday and Friday accused King-Father and Prime Minister Hun Sen of involvement with the Khmer Rouge regime.