Jailed Cambodian Publisher Will Appeal

Hang Chakra outside the Phnom Penh court on June 13, 2009. (RFA Photo/Zakariya)

2009-07-16
Radio Free Asia

A publisher is jailed after his newspaper reports on alleged official corruption, while Human Rights Watch points to what it calls a concerted government crackdown on the opposition.

PHNOM PENH—Opposition newspaper publisher Hang Chakra, jailed for a year after publishing articles on alleged government corruption, is suffering in prison but plans to appeal his case, a source here said.

Hang Chakra is detained in Prey Sar Prison in a cell holding about 50 people, sources said.

He was arrested in Battambang on June 26 while he was in hiding—the same day a Phnom Penh court sentenced him in absentia to 12 months in prison and ordered a 9 million riels (U.S. $2,250) fine for alleged defamation and disinformation.

Am Sam Ath, head of an investigative team for the human rights group LCADHO, said his medical team had visited Hang Chakra and found him suffering from kidney problems.

“He is given medication for that. In addition, he appears stressed and worried,” Am Sam Ath said.

Hang Chakra’s lawyer, Chuong Chongny, also visited him July 13.

“His health is fine. But the important thing is what I should do in this case,” Chuong Chongny said.

“The court will send his documents to the appeals court, and I will defend him…I asked him if he still needed me, and he said he still needs me.”

Hang Chakra’s newspaper, Machas Srok, had published articles alleging corruption in the office of Deputy Prime Minister Sok An.

Human Rights Watch this week urged Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen’s government to end what it called a “campaign of harassment, threats, and unwarranted legal action aimed at consolidating its rule by silencing the political opposition and peaceful critics.”

The New York-based organization cited “at least nine politically motivated criminal defamation and disinformation cases against journalists, opposition members of parliament, lawyers, and government critics,” including the case against Hang Chakra.

It also urged Cambodia’s international donors to press the government to stop its heavy-handed harassment of opposition members.

The National Assembly, further, voted to lift the parliamentary immunity of two of the opposition Sam Rainsy Party's (SRP) most active members, paving the way to try them on criminal charges of defamation against Hun Sen and 22 military officials, respectively.

All the recent lawsuits were filed under Articles 62 and 63, new laws which address disinformation and defamation and libel, Human Rights Watch said.

Original reporting by Serey To for RFA's Khmer service. Khmer service director: Sos Kem. Written for the Web in English by Sarah Jackson-Han.

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.