Sam Rainsy kicks Hor's butt

Confirmation: Hor Namhong Finally and Definitively Lost His Lawsuit Against Sam Rainsy in Paris

May 19, 2011

CONFIRMATION:

HOR NAMHONG FINALLY AND DEFINITIVELY LOST HIS LAWSUIT AGAINST SAM RAINSY IN PARIS

Here is the official document showing that the French Supreme Court (Cour de Cassation) on April 27, 2011 overturned a previous judicial decision in favor of Mr. Hor Namhong (Cour d’Appel de Paris, May 20, 2010). This is the confirmation that Mr. Hor Namhong finally and definitively lost his defamation lawsuit against Sam Rainsy before the French tribunal.

French Supreme Court exhonerates Sam Rainsy in the lawsuit brought up by Comrade Hor 5 Hong
http://www.scribd.com/fullscreen/55787881?access_key=key-16p9lgoskgj52vzpaie5

Khmer Intelligence News - 16 December 2008

16 December 2008

All Korean-conducted land development projects have been stopped (2)

Over the last few years the most grandiose land development projects have been conducted by not-so-well-known companies from South Korea. Because of the fallout from the global financial crisis and a serious downward revision of Cambodia's economic prospects coupled with the sharp fall in land prices, the cash-strapped Korean companies have abandoned all their projects in Cambodia. These include mega projects such as CamKo City in the North of Phnom Penh (only one tranche out of four will be completed), the 42-storey Golden Tower on Monivong Boulevard, and International Financial Complex on Sothearos Boulevard, next to the Russian Embassy. The concerned companies keep denying their decision to leave Cambodia in order to avoid a panic from customers who have "bought" their to-be-built houses or condominiums and made down payments, but works on the spot have practically come to a standstill.

Top managers of Hong Kong-based Tak Fat company are in hiding in Cambodia (2)

In addition to "Garment manufacturer Tack Fat has gone bankrupt" as published by Khmer Intelligence News on 13 October 2008, we have learned that the company's top managers are now in hiding in Cambodia to escape prosecution in Hong Kong. Shareholders have been swindled and the unscrupulous managers have fled to Cambodia with the company's cash. Criminals who can pay bribes, or are financial cronies, to Cambodia's political leaders enjoy impunity in this country. The wife of a powerful man here holds a significant stake in Tak Fat's Cambodian subsidiary, which used to provide the mother company in Hong Kong with fake certificates of origin, with the complicity of the Ministry of Commerce, allowing fraudulent garment exports from China to the USA using the label "Made in Cambodia."

Gasoline price to decrease from 3,200 riels to 2,800 riels per liter (3)

Crude oil price on the international market is now at US$44 per barrel (1 barrel = 159 liters), down 70 percent from a peak of US$147 a barrel on July 11, 2008. At that time, the retail price of gasoline in Cambodia was 5,600 riels per liter. It should now drop to 2,800 riels per liter (- 50 percent from its highest level), instead of 3,200 riels now, if Cambodian gasoline distribution companies were to pass on to consumers the recent decrease in their supply cost as reflected in the fall in international crude oil price. The exchange rate has remained practically unchanged over the last 18 months with US$1 being equivalent to approximately 4,060 riels.

CPP would lose their two-thirds majority with UNTAC formula (1)

Cambodia has implemented a proportional representation system for all elections hold over the last fifteen years. In the UN-organized election in 1993, UNTAC used the greatest-remainder formula. But since 1998, the CPP authorities have arbitrarily and surreptitiously switched to the largest-average formula, which favours large political parties. Minor parties generally fare better under the greatest-remainder formula than under the largest-average formula.

If the greatest-remainder formula (known as UNTAC formula in Cambodia) were used for the last July 2008 election, the results in terms of National Assembly seats allocated to each party would be as follows:

- CPP: down from 90 to 76 (minus 14 seats lost to SRP, HRP, FCP and NRP).

- SRP: up from 26 to 29 (3 extra seats won from CPP in Prey Veng, Pursat and Svay Rieng provinces).

- HRP: up from 3 to 7 (4 extra seats won from CPP in Phnom Penh and in Kampong Cham, Kampong Speu and Takeo provinces).

- FCP: up from 2 to 6 (4 extra seats won from CPP in Battambang, Kampong Cham, Kampong Chhnang and Siem Reap provinces).

- NRP: up from 2 to 5 (3 extra seats won from CPP in Kampong Thom, Kampot and Kandal provinces).

The CPP would have been unable to secure their current two-thirds majority (over 82 seats out of 123) in the National Assembly.

Hor Namhong's revelations to the French Court (2)

In relation to the defamation lawsuit he has filed against opposition leader Sam Rainsy before the French Court (details at http://tinyurl.com/6d6an5) Foreign Minister Hor Namhong gave interesting information to French judges at a public hearing in Paris on December 9.

Asked why several members of the royal family, including retired King Norodom Sihanouk and former prisoners, have complained about his behaviour as "chief" of the Khmer Rouge Boeng Trabek re-education camp in 1977-1978, he replied this was because of "rivalries" among prisoners. He therefore acknowledged that the situation was more complex than what he first admitted (the "bad" Khmer Rouge on the one hand and the "good" prisoners on the other). He first denied that denunciations by a prisoner of another prisoner could lead to the second one being "taken away" by the Khmer Rouge, but he subsequently admitted that, through denunciations, he could have eliminated all his "rivals", implying he did manage to eliminate at least some of them.

Another revelation made by Hor Namhong: all those, especially journalists, who have alleged in Cambodia that he had been involved in any wrongdoings, could get away with the Cambodian Court only by fleeing the country, like American reporter Kelly McEvers from The Cambodia Daily, or by making apologies to him, like McEvers's Cambodian colleague Thet Sambath and opposition journalist Dam Sith. He accused The Cambodia Daily of being "pro-opposition."

See also Khmer Intelligence News dated 10 October 2008: "Hor Namhong gave false information about Princess Nanette and Prince Sisowath Methavy."

KHMER INTELLIGENCE NEWS - 10 October 2008

Hor Namhong gave false information about Princess Nanette and Prince Sisowath Methavy (2)

French weekly Le Journal du Dimanche, July 23, 1989, quoted [then Prince now] King Father Norodom Sihanouk as declaring, "Hor Nam Hong, former commander of a Khmer Rouge concentration camp [Boeng Trabek detention camp], is responsible for the death, after atrocious tortures, of many former members of the anti-American Resistance, such as my cousin Prince Sisowath Methavy, and his spouse [Princess Nanette], the elder sister of my wife [now Queen Mother Norodom Monineath Sihanouk]."

Princess Sisowath Nanette arrived at Boeng Trabek camp in October 1977, directly from France, to join her husband Prince Sisowath Methavy who had returned to Cambodia since 1976, only one year after the Khmer Rouge take over. Following a short stay in Chraing Chamres, Prince Methavy was sent to Boeng Trabek camp in February 1977. Princess Nanette actually lived in Boeng Trabek camp for only six months before she and her husband were taken away to be executed in April 1978. This is confirmed by many surviving prisoners from the three sections of Boeng Trabek camp (B30, B31 and B32), who all confirm that they last saw Princess Nanette and her husband around the Cambodian New Year that took place in April 1978.

In an interview published in Khmer-language newspaper Rasmei Kampuchea, April 23, 2008, Hor Nam Hong says the Sisowath couple lived with him "until the end of 1978" before being taken away and killed by the Khmer Rouge. However, surviving witnesses say that the Khmer Rouge had stopped taking away and killing Boeng Trabek prisoners since August-September 1978, when living conditions suddenly started to improve as the Pol Pot regime tried to mobilize all Cambodian forces to counter increasing pressure from Vietnamese troops.

The late CPP Justice Minister Chem Sgnuon, who was detained at Boeng Trabek camp until Vietnamese troops arrived in January 1979, used to tell many people how cruel Hor Nam Hong was when he was the Khmer Rouge-appointed camp chief. Chem Snguon avoided talking with Hor Nam Hong because of this bitter past.

KHMER INTELLIGENCE NEWS - 13 October 2008

Garment manufacturer Tack Fat has gone bankrupt (1)

The Hong Kong-based daily newspaper South China Morning Post, October 8, 2008, confirmed that Tack Fat Group International, a well-known firm listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and the parent company of Tack Fat Garment (Cambodia) Ltd, a major garment manufacturer in this country, has gone bankrupt. The news reads as follows, "Last month [September 2008], banks applied to wind up (…) swimwear maker Tack Fat International Group after [it] defaulted on loans." Tack Fat becomes the second "collapse of a Hong Kong-listed retailer amid the financial meltdown."

According to a business analysis, "Tack Fat Group's principal activities are designing and manufacturing of jeans, pants, shorts, swimming apparel and sportswear for men, women and children. Other activity includes investment holding. The Group has three production facilities, one of which is located in Luoding City, Guandong Province, the People's Republic of China and the other two of which are located in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. The majority of the Group's products are exported to the North American, European markets and other regions." http://tinyurl.com/3mpvvl

A September 16, 2008 statement by the Group's "Provisional Liquidators Appointed" specifies, "The place of incorporation of the Company is in Cayman Islands and the shares [were] suspended for trading since 9:30am, 30 July 2008." http://tinyurl.com/3lgb8a

Information about Tack Fat Garment (Cambodia) Ltd can be obtained at http://tinyurl.com/437q8l

[End]

Towards Hun Sen's Cambodia

Jul 23, 2008
By Craig Guthrie
Asia Times Online

PHNOM PENH - Even though Cambodia goes to the polls Sunday for the country's fourth general election since Vietnamese occupation ended in 1989, Prime Minister Hun Sen can comfortably escape the chaotic campaign noise in his heavily guarded, villa-studded compound in suburban Phnom Penh and light up a well-earned 555 cigarette - his smoke of choice since his soldiering days.

The one-eyed, chain-smoking "Strongman of Cambodia" could play a casual round of golf at the private course kept groomed at the complex known to locals as the "Tiger's Lair", or maybe take a helicopter trip from the adjacent military airfield used to whisk him up and down his impoverished nation. In fact, as his foes rally and march around the capital, it probably doesn't matter much what Hun Sen does.

Outside in the streets, colorful campaign convoys are clogging Phnom Penh's frangipani-lined boulevards, with truck-mounted bullhorns and the frenetic clashing of cymbals and drums promoting their respective candidates. The scenes are colorful and vibrant, the atmosphere intense, but many say the underlying political picture is actually black and white.

By all accounts, 57-year-old Hun Sen, in power since 1985, has little to worry from the oncoming polls; in recent months he has increasingly consolidated his hold over the electorate through a masterful opera of jibes, scaremongering and gold-toothed charm.

By outfoxing an already fractured opposition, wooing billions in foreign investment and artfully placating the once-powerful labor movement and previously hostile superpowers, the master manipulator has again outmaneuvered his rivals.

Hun Sen - riding a booming economy, hard-won social stability and a vast network of patronage and blood relations [One big happy family in Cambodia, Asia Times Online, March 20, 2007] - has all but ensured that he and his formerly communist Cambodian People's Party (CPP) will head the country when the potentially boundless riches from oil deposits, found by Chevron off the southwestern coast, begin to flow.

Hun Sen is in full grip of the nation's institutions and tightly aligned with its wealthiest tycoons. He has predicted that his CPP machine will win 81 of the National Assembly's 123 seats and 73% of the vote. The margin of victory is probably immaterial, since the country, as proposed by opposition party leader Sam Rainsy, adopted a 50-plus-one seat requirement in 2004 to form a government, replacing the previous two-thirds of the vote rule. The proposal was passed to avoid a repeat of the political stalemates which destabilized the country following the 1998 and 2003 elections, and resulted in fractious coalition governments.

Even so, Hun Sen has been openly deriding his opponent's chances for months. In recent weeks he has told them they can "stay at home" on election day, and has announced that he himself will sit out the last few weeks of the campaign in order to avoid "verbal confrontations".

In another speech, the prime minister pre-picked his cabinet while comparing his management style to Manchester United's football manager Alex Ferguson. This is classic Hun Sen: a powerful orator who mixes paddy-field populism, personal potshots and home-spun humor to embolden his allies and intimidate his foes. In 2006, he laughed at a foiled government attack, saying in a speech reported by the Phnom Penh Post: "I know all. Even if you farted, I would still know. You cannot hide from me."

In the past he has said he has no intention of standing down as prime minister until he is at least 90 years old. This would be a remarkable run: he became the Vietnamese-backed premier of Cambodia in 1985, when he was 33.

As the country some call Asia's "best kept secret" heads into its Fourth Mandate - what the new government will be called - Cambodia is more than ever Hun Sen's nation. This sits poorly with his legion of critics, some of whom have labeled the CPP regime a corrupt "kleptocratic elite" with little regard for the millions of rural rice farmers living in abject poverty. Others, including diplomats, say worse.

In 2006, UN high commissioner for human rights Louis Arbour called the problems within the Cambodian judiciary "profound". Dr Lao Mong Hay, senior researcher at the Asian Human Rights Commission, wrote in a June 18 editorial,

...institutions remain subject to the control inherited from pre-1993 communist days, and are utilized to serve the interests of the ruling class rather than those of the people. Although Cambodia has held periodic elections, and preparations for the forthcoming election are underway, its multi-party, liberal democracy has little substance.

The National Election Committee is regularly accused by the opposition of a lack of independence, and many independent election monitoring groups have alleged that state resources and media have been deployed to the ruling party's electoral advantage.

"Never assume that Cambodia is a democracy," said Chea Vannath, a political commentator. "If a democracy is when a nation is ruled by a government chosen by its people, yes, Cambodia is democratic. But in terms of governance, Cambodia is a different story. There is no check and balance on the executive branch, the judiciary or the monarchy."

In recent weeks he has also even veered away from an earlier commitment to adopt a long-awaited draft anti-corruption law, which foreign donors and civil society groups have long clamored for. And he's deployed old-fashioned scaremongering to justify the controversial move.

"Will corrupt officials agree to any confiscation of their riches? No. Then war will erupt," said Hun Sen in a speech broadcast on national radio at the end of May. "After confiscating for a while, all the rich people will all become poor - as in Khmer Rouge times - more than 3 million people will be destroyed. Don't play with that," he said.

A temple revisited

The country's millions of impoverished farmers and fishermen, for years saturated with state-controlled media looping four-hour-long Hun Sen speeches interspersed with reels of CPP officials handing over packs of instant noodles to needy villagers, are likely headed towards five more years of inequality, drudgery, and bad TV.

The premier's media-influenced popularity was recently pushed to greater heights by the listing last week of the Preah Vihear temple complex as a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) national heritage site. When the decision was announced live on national channel CTN, Hun Sen's image was shown with revolving stars around it. A televised concert held to celebrate the listing was attended by hosts regularly shouting words of support for Hun Sen among other cheers of national glory.

The ensuing border tension with Thailand over the controversial listing will be a strong test of his government's ability to stand up to stronger neighbors before a watchful Cambodian public in the heat of an election season. Aside from the temple tiff, a closer look at the less-monitored countryside has revealed that the level of political killings, threats and intimidation that have marred previous elections has substantially diminished in the run-up to this weekend's polls.

But the lack of violence is probably more a testament to the CPP's successful vanquishing of the opposition Sam Rainsy Party's (SRP) grassroots machinery. The opposition's hardship has been brewing for months, due in part to some deft political maneuvers by Hun Sen and the CPP political machine. But their spectacular collapse in the lead-up to the July 27 election has still surprised many political observers. The SRP has been deflated by the defection of more than 20 high profile lawmakers and tens of thousand of grassroots members party executives claims the CPP has bought to switch sides.

"We have seen a people buying campaign ... Prime minister Hun Sen actively seeks out SRP members by using money as bait ... Each member receives at least US$2,000, and those with high positions in the SRP receive US$200,000," said Rainsy in a recent letter. "I am worried and feel pity for those [defectors] who get cheated. After the election they will be kicked out," he said. Hun Sen responded by saying that SRP defectors "are not goods or animals to be bought and sold".

The SRP has been left meek, and hoping for a highly unlikely post-election "people power" movement to challenge a CPP-dominated government. The SRP campaign has revolved mostly around the now globally recognized opposition stratagem of pointing to high oil and food prices as the incumbent government's failure to serve its people. But both strategies seem doomed to failure: a planned "mass rally" of SRP supporters against inflation saw a mere 300 supporters turn out, leading Hun Sen to quip that a local midget comedian usually has more people in his audience.

The punch-drunk party has also lost one of its more meaningful friends in the trade unions movement, which has the power to mobilize hundreds of thousands of garment and factory workers in a mass protest. The leader of the largest union, Chea Mony - whose brother popular SRP-affiliated union leader Chea Vichea was gunned down in 2004 - announced earlier this year the bloc was withdrawing from politics. The decision almost immediately followed Hun Sen's announcement of a $6 monthly increase to garment workers monthly salaries - bringing them to $56.

The loss of the trade unions - the largest organized sector in Cambodia - is a double blow to Rainsy, who, along with Chea Vichea and Ou Mary, founded the labor movement in 1996.

Opposition off the rails

Rainsy, a former minister of finance who was sacked for complaining about corruption, has tried another political tack. In several well-publicized broadsides, he has attacked the personal backgrounds of what he claims to be former Khmer Rouge members in Hun Sen's government. He recently alleged to supporters at a Buddhist ceremony at the Choeung Ek "killing fields" that CPP stalwart and Foreign Minister Hor Namhong was once chief of the Khmer Rouge-run Boeung Trabek "re-education" center, where thousands of diplomats and intellectuals were interred before execution.

Hor Namhong rebuked the accusation, claiming he was instead a liaison between the prisoners and the wardens at the camp and insisting that several of his close family members were executed there. He filed a defamation lawsuit against Rainsy, but the salvo provided little political capital for the SRP. The arrest of an opposition-aligned newspaper editor who reprinted Rainsy's allegations drew international condemnation, but hardly enough to improve the SRP's electoral chances. Nor has international outcry over the assassination of SRP-aligned journalist Khim Sambor and his son, who were shot and killed in a drive-by shooting on July 11.

The other main opposition party, the royalist Funcinpec, has also disintegrated in the run-up to the polls. Crafty, almost choreographed, moves saw the party's past leader and erstwhile Hun Sen rival, Prince Norodom Ranariddh, ousted in an inter-party coup. The move was orchestrated by Nhiek Bun Chhay, secretary general of the party and a former defense minister. Funcinpec is still the coalition partner of the CPP, but since the ouster of Ranariddh, has been widely seen as a puppet of the ruling party.

Ranariddh was subsequently convicted for pocketing $3.6 million from the sale of Funcinpec's former headquarters and sentenced to 18 months imprisonment, a move some have attributed to Hun Sen's alleged influence over the courts. He fled the country in December 2005, and has since resorted to giving telephone speeches to embattled supporters of his new Norodom Ranariddh Party from self-exile in Malaysia.

In June, Ranariddh reportedly sent Hun Sen a humbling private note asking for the return of his private jet. Meanwhile, his magnificent $2 million colonial-era villa in the center of Phnom Penh has already been sold off by the government to the Foreign Correspondents Club of Cambodia, which plans to turn it into a carbon-friendly boutique hotel. Hun Sen has said Ranariddh will be "handcuffed and taken to jail", if he returns to Cambodia and has blocked any chance or a royal pardon.

The fledgling Human Rights Party, led by self-styled people's champion Kem Sokha and backed by controversial former head of state Pen Sovann, is assured of winning at least a handful of seats. The party may have carved a small nationalist niche among the electorate, and like the SRP is known to have had US backers. Sokha left his previous organization, the Cambodian Center for Human Rights, under a cloud of scandal as 16 former employees accused him of corruption and embezzlement from the US-financed group.

Despite Sokha's grassroots popularity, his HRP is not seen as a major threat to the CPP juggernaut. Nor is the US seen as overtly supporting any particular opposition party, as it has been perceived of in the past. Washington, which in 2004 threatened Cambodia with sanctions for lack of progress on trafficking issues, has since given the nation a glowing report its latest human trafficking report.

The US Embassy in Phnom Penh has commended the lack of violence in this year's election build-up, though it reacted strongly and offered Federal Bureau of Investigation assistance following the murder of Sambor. Washington has taken a softer line towards Cambodia in the past year as China moves to increase its local influence. After Chevron's apparent discovery of oil and gas, the US this year lifted a 10-year ban on direct aid to Cambodia in February and re-started direct military aid in May.

Assuming that the oil and gas deposits are actually there, an energy bonanza would profoundly change the Cambodian economy and its terms of trade. Drilling by a Singaporean firm began in mid-July and state and private companies from China, South Korea, Japan and France are currently negotiating contracts related to the find. Although the government is still awaiting a key assessment from Chevron, estimates range from anywhere between $200 million to $2 billion a year in potential revenues.

That should provide plenty of resources for Hun Sen to further consolidate his political dominance, and if this weekend's elections produce the landslide win for his CPP many analysts project, could signal the beginning of a new era of one-party rule in Cambodia.

Craig Guthrie is a reporter for the Mekong Times newspaper in Phnom Penh. He has covered Cambodian affairs since 2004.

Thomico not happy that Sam Rainsy is using his parents’ names in the lawsuit

11 July 2008
Rasmei Kampuchea
Translation from Khmer by Heng Soy

On 10 July, Prince Sisowath Thomico expressed his unhappiness that opposition leader Sam Rainsy used his parents’ names in the lawsuit brought by Hor Namhong against him.

In an interview over the phone on Thursday morning, Thomico said: “I don’t want my parents’ names involved in the country politics because they are not involved in the current politics.” The prince added that Sam Rainsy should not mix a legal issue with politics.

Prince Thomico indicated that Princess Nanette and Prince Sisowath Methavy lived in the Boeng Trabek camp until November 1978 before they were taken away. Since then, Thomico lost track of his parents, and he did not know how his parents were killed. However, Thomico indicated that his parents dedicated their lives to serve the nation and to follow the Hero-King Norodom Sihanouk.

Thomico refused to comment on the letter Sam Rainsy handed over the tribunal on 09 July. Nevertheless, Thomico indicated that there are a number of people who used to live in Boeng Trabek with his parents, and they are still alive now.

On 09 July, Sam Rainsy read a letter confirming that Hor Namhong was the Boeng Trabek jail chief after Van Piny (the former Boeng Trabel jail chief).

While being unhappy to see Sam Rainsy’s involving his parents’ names in the lawsuit brought up by Hor Namhong, Thomico said that if Sam Rainsy wants to find justice, he should bring the case to the KR Tribunal [KI-Media note: Sam Rainsy did ask the KRT to take up the case, but the KRT refused]. Nonetheless, Sam Rainsy took this case to comment in a political speech instead, Thomico claimed.

Based on the past court victory on a similar case against King-Father, people believed that Hor Namhong has the advantage over Sam Rainsy, therefore, some commentators are concerned that this lawsuit could affect Sam Rainsy’s political life after the election.

Hor Namhong sued Sam Rainsy for cursing and misinformation, after Sam Rainsy declared that the Choeung Ek Memorial site, in April, that Hor Namhong was the Boeng Trabek jail chief. This case is still in the hands of the tribunal.

Political Cartoon: Nom Benh-Rats

Cartoon by Sacrava (on the web at http://sacrava.blogspot.com)

'Biased' Courts Close Doors to Sam Rainsy

By Heng Reaksmey, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
09 July 2008

Phnom Penh Municipal Court officials refused to meet with opposition leader Sam Rainsy Wednesday, as he sought to provide what he says is evidence of Foreign Minister Hor Namhong's involvement in a Khmer Rouge prison camp.

Sam Rainsy has been summoned several times to the court since April, but he said he had gone of his own volition Wednesday.

He sought to submit to the court the alleged testimony of a former Boeung Trabek camp inmate that accuses Hor Namhong of being the chief of the prison.

Hor Namhong, who has maintained he was a prisoner at the camp, sued Sam Rainsy for defamation and disinformation for similar accusations made at a public rally in April.

Sam Rainsy said Wednesday the courts were "cheap" and "biased" to the ruling Cambodian People's Party.

Court officials were not immediately available to for comment.

Cambodian opposition leader finds no judge to receive his evidence over defamation charges

PHNOM PENH, July 9 (Xinhua) -- Sam Rainsy, president of the eponymous opposition party, here Wednesday found no staff members at the local court to receive his evidence over the defamation charges filed against him by Cambodian foreign minister Hor Namhong.

Rainsy went voluntarily to the court to submit documents in his defense, but no prosecutors showed up to receive them.

"The prosecutors all fled. They are scared by Sam Rainsy," he told reporters as left the court.

Court officials could not be reached for comments immediately.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Hor Namhong filed a defamation lawsuit in April at Phnom Penh Municipal Court against Sam Rainsy over his remarks alleging that the minister was a former member of the Democratic Kampuchea (DK).

Hor Namhong has long said that he and his family were prisoners at a DK camp, and has successfully sued people in the past for claiming that he had links to the regime that is widely held responsible for the death of over 1.7 million people during the 1970s.

Rainsy is now leading his party as the main opposition force to campaign for the general elections on July 27.

Altogether 11 parties are participating in the election. The current ruling Cambodian People's Party is widely expected to score landslide victory.

Cambodian court shuttered, blocking opposition leader's defence [-Travesty of justice continues]

Cambodian opposition party leader Sam Rainsy

PHNOM PENH (AFP) — Cambodia's opposition leader Sam Rainsy went to court Wednesday to refute defamation charges brought by the foreign minister over Khmer Rouge remarks, but no one was there to take his evidence.

The door to the court was locked when Sam Rainsy arrived. After a security guard let him in, prosecutors did not show up to receive the documents he wanted to file in his defence, he said.

"The prosecutors all fled. They are scared by Sam Rainsy," he told reporters as left the court.

Foreign Minister Hor Namhong filed a defamation lawsuit in April at Phnom Penh Municipal Court against Sam Rainsy over remarks alleging that he was a former Khmer Rouge member.

Hor Namhong has long said that he and his family were prisoners at a Khmer Rouge camp, and has successfully sued people in the past for claiming that he had links to the regime.

Sam Rainsy, who leads the main opposition party running in general elections on July 27, went voluntarily to the court on Wednesday to submit documents in his defence.

He accused the court of being "vulgar and a puppet" and urged the people to "open a new page of history in this year's election" to oust the government.

"The election is near and they want to intimidate me but I'm not scared," Sam Rainsy added.

Court officials could not be reached for comments immediately.

Sam Rainsy and his eponymous party are considered the main opposition force when Cambodians go to the polls, but Prime Minister Hun Sen's ruling Cambodian People's Party (CPP) is expected to dominate the election.

Up to two million people died of overwork and starvation or were executed under the Khmer Rouge, which outlawed religion, property rights, currency and schools during its 1975-1979 rule.

On July 9, 2008 at 8am, MP Sam Rainsy will go to the tribunal

Phnom Penh , 8 July 2008

PRESS RELEASE

ON JULY 9, 2008 AT 8AM,
MP SAM RAINSY WILL GO TO THE TRIBUNAL

In relation to the defamation lawsuit filed by Minister of Foreign Affairs Hor Nam Hong and following the request made by the Phnom Penh Municipal Court to lift his parliamentary immunity, Member of Parliament Sam Rainsy will go to the Phnom Penh Municipal Court on July 9, 2008 , at 8am .

Tribunals, judges and prosecutors can interview Parliamentarians any time, and do not need to wait until their parliamentary immunity is lifted.

After his meeting with the Phnom Penh Municipal Court magistrates, MP Sam Rainsy will address questions from the press.

SRP Members of Parliament

For more information please contact Tioulong Saumura 092 888 002

Political Cartoon: The Lawsuits

Hor Namhong double-dipping? He sues Sam Rainsy twice: in Cambodia and in France for the same case

Hor Namhong (Photo: DR, Cambodge Soir Hebdo)

Hor Namhong withdraw his lawsuit against Dam Sith

27 June 2008
Leang Delux Cambodge Soir Hebdo
Translated from French by Luc Sâr
Click here to read the original article in French

Hor Namhong, the Foreign Affair minister, announced on Friday 27 June that he will withdraw his lawsuit against Dam Sith, the opposition journalist.

“Dam Sith came to ask me for an amicable settlement, I will ask the tribunal to withdraw my lawsuit,” Hor Namhong said during an interview with a representative of the Cambodian Club of Journalists (CCJ) and Dam Sith who was accompanied by his lawyer.

“I told Dam Sith that I did not wish to have a lawsuit between journalists and politicians during the run up to the election. I am happy to end this affair,” Hor Namhong added.

Kong Sam Onn, Dam Sith’s lawyer, said that he was also satisfied, and that this withdrawal would allow the journalist as well as the minister to turn the page and avoid any disturbance to the election campaign.

How Namhong did not withdraw his lawsuit against opposition leader Sam Rainsy whom the Moneakseka Khmer newspaper quoted.

“I brought a lawsuit in the French tribunal and one more with the Cambodian tribunal for defamation and disinformation. If the Cambodian justice is under coercion, we will see how the French justice will decide the case,” Hor Namhong said.

Sam Rainsy reacted by saying: “It is normal that Hor Namhong withdraw his lawsuit against Dam Sith. This affair shouldn’t have started to begin with.” Sam Rainsy is also happy to learn that Hor Namhong brought a lawsuit against him in France. “The French justice is free, and I have enough proofs and witnesses to support what I said,” he added.

In April, Hor Namhong brought a lawsuit against Sam Rainsy for defamation in disinformation, and also against the Moneakseka Khmer newspaper for disinformation. He blamed the opposition newspaper of quoting Sam Rainsy’s claim, according to which Hor Namhong directed the Boeng Trabek jail under the KR regime.

“This is not an ordinary case, especially for me who had particularly suffered under the KR regime,” Hor Namhong explained.

Dam Sith: "Hor Namhong doesn't want to be reminded of the past" [-Too many bad memories from the past for Hor Namhong?]

Foreign Minister Hor Namhong said Friday he was dropping a defamation suit to help a secure election environment.

Minister Drops Suit Against Opposition Editor

By Chun Sakada, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
27 June 2008

Foreign Minister Hor Namhong announced Friday he will drop his defamation suit against an opposition newspaper editor who was jailed for a week earlier this month.

Hor Namhong said he was dropping his suit against Dam Sith because he did not want to interfere with the political atmosphere ahead of general elections.

The defamation suit, filed in April, stemmed from a story published in Dam Sith's newspaper, Moneaksekar Khmer, which quoted opposition leader Sam Rainsy accusing the foreign minister of involvement in the Khmer Rouge. Dam Sith spent a week in jail following Phnom Penh Municipal Court investigations, worrying observers that press freedom was eroding ahead of July's national election.

"I am very happy to drop the complaint against Dam Sith, in the spirit of compatriotism," Hor Namhong told reporters Friday, following an hour-long meeting with Dam Sith at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. "I told Dam Sith that although we occupy different political tendencies, we are all Khmer, and this compromise will lead to a good atmosphere for the election."

Hor Namhong said he would officially request the court to drop the case.

"Hor Namhong doesn't want to be reminded of the past," Dam Sith said following the announcement Friday. "He decided to drop his complaint against me."

"I did not apologize to Hor Namhong," he said of the meeting, "but I only asked that he compromise and he get his complaint out of court, so that I have the right to walk around without restriction."

Um Sarin, president of the Cambodian Association for the Protection of Journalists, called the minister's decision a "positive step" and "good example for other high-ranking officials."

Rainsy's immunity assured until after election

Hor Namhong (L) and Sam Rainsy (R)

Friday, 27 June 2008
Written by Vong Sokheng and Cheang Sokha
The Phnom Penh Post

Cambodian lawmakers will wait until after the July 27 general election to debate whether to strip opposition leader Sam Rainsy of his parliamentary immunity, in a bid to ease political tensions ahead of the polls, European Union elections observers said.

Rainsy faces investigation and possible arrest over defamation claims made by Foreign Minister Hor Namhong if he loses his legislative protection.

Phnom Penh Municipal Court issued a request on June 16 that the National Assembly “temporarily suspend the immunity of Sam Rainsy,” adding that the court had collected enough evidence to warrant further investigation into the accusations made against him by Namhong.

Namhong alleges he was defamed when Rainsy said during a speech on April 17 that under the Khmer Rouge regime he was the director of Boeng Trabek prison, a detention center for intellectuals and members of the royal family.

Namhong has repeatedly said that he was an ordinary prisoner at Boeng Trabek, denying that he worked for the regime, whose 1975-79 rule over Cambodia resulted in 1.7 million deaths in one of the darkest chapters of the 20th century.

But the EU’s chief election observer, Martin Callanan, told reporter’s on June 20 that Namhong had assured poll monitors that no move would be made against Rainsy until after the election.

“Hor Namhong ... assured [EU] election observers that parliamentary immunity of the opposition leader Sam Rainsy would not be stripped before the July national elections,” Callanan said.

Election monitors said they welcomed the decision, saying Rainsy’s participation in the vote would help ensure a stabile political atmosphere.

“It’s a good that Rainsy can join the campaign because it will make the election go smoothly,” said Mar Sophal of the election monitor Comfrel.

Rainsy last lost his parliamentary immunity in 1995 while he was in self-imposed exile in France, shortly before he was convicted of defaming Prime Minister Hun Sen in a case that drew heavy international criticism.

Although he was later pardoned and returned to Cambodia, Rainsy says the ruling Cambodian People’s Party, of which Hun Sen is a member, is still trying to shut him down and earlier dismissed the July polls as “meaningless” in the face of the CPP’s political maneuvering.

In the weeks leading up to the campaign season Hun Sen ordered an investigation into the Sam Rainsy Party, claiming that defectors had implicated the opposition in a number of violent plots, including the 1998 rocket attack against the prime minister and a 2000 attack in the capital by the Cambodian Freedom Fighters, a band of self-proclaimed coup makers led by a Cambodian-American.

In a letter to the CPP on June 18, the opposition called on Hun Sen to stop intimidating Sam Rainsy followers with threats of prosecution over phantom plots.

“The accusations that the SRP is involved in violence is unacceptable.... The SRP has no culture of violence,” the party’s statement said.

Hor Namhong withdraws his lawsuit against Dam Sith, Moneaksekar Khmer Editor-in-chief and SRP MP candidate

Hor Namhong (L) and Sam Rainsy (R) (Photo: RFA)

Cambodian minister drops defamation suit against news editor

Jun 27, 2008
DPA

Phnom Penh - A senior Cambodian minister will withdraw a defamation complaint against an opposition newspaper editor who is also a candidate in upcoming national elections, he announced at a press conference Friday.

On June 8, Dam Sith, editor of pro-Sam Rainsy Party newspaper Moneaksekar Khmer, was arrested as he washed his car in the capital and spent a week in the notorious Prey Sar prison before Prime Minister Hun Sen intervened on his behalf.

His arrest followed a complaint by Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Hor Namhong accusing Sith of defamation, 'insult' and disinformation regarding quotes by opposition leader Sam Rainsy his paper had published.

The quotes concerned claims made by Sam Rainsy in connection with the 1975-79 Khmer Rouge regime which the minister said were deeply hurtful and completely untrue.

'I was a victim of the regime, not a perpetrator,' he said.

He gave no reason for dropping the charges, but a board member for the Club of Cambodian Journalists said later Sith had written to Hor Namhong saying publishing the quotes had been 'a mistake.'

Hor Namhong said he would continue to sue Rainsy for defamation through the Paris courts. Rainsy holds a French passport.

'Some people claim the Cambodian courts are not independent, so I am taking legal action in France,' he said.

Sith's arrest provoked howls of protest from human rights and media activists around the world.

His unprecedented detention on civil charges also came at a politically sensitive time, with Cambodia gearing up for national elections on July 27 which Hor Namhong's dominant Cambodian People's Party is expected to win handsomely.

CPP Nguon Nhel: Sam Rainsy’s immunity to be stripped after the election

Monday, June 23, 2008
Everyday.com.kh
Translated from Khmer by Socheata

The request made by the Phnom Penh municipal court to strip opposition leader Sam Rainsy’s parliamentary immunity, so that he can be charged by the court stemming from the lawsuit brought up by Hor Namhong, the vice-prime minister and minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, will be delayed to after the election because the National Assembly cannot be convened to resolve this request. CPP MP Nguon Nhel, the first vice-president of the National Assembly, told The Cambodia Daily on Sunday that Sam Rainsy’s immunity stripping request by the Phnom Penh municipal court will need to wait until after the general election. Nguon Nhel said that, after the election, we (CPP) will think about this request. Nguon Nhel added that: “We are asking for a delay only, we are not dropping this case.” Opposition leader Sam Rainsy said that the court request is politically motivated. Sam Rainy added, as he had done earlier, that he is not concerned about this immunity stripping affair.

Hor Nam Hong: Sam Rainsy's immunity will not be stripped before election...after that only the CPP can tell as it controls the biased justice system

NA vows not to strip Sam Rainsy’s immunity

Monday, 23 June 2008
Neth Pheaktra
The Mekong Times

Foreign Minister Hor Namhong has confirmed that opposition leader Sam Rainsy’s parliamentary immunity will not be stripped before the July 27 national election, thus allowing him to lead his party through the election campaign, according to a top European Union (EU) official.

Hor Namhong told Martin Callanan, chief observer of the EU Election Observation Mission, last Thursday that the National Assembly (NA) will not follow Phnom Penh Municipal Court’s request to strip Sam Rainsy of his parliamentary immunity ahead of the election, Callanan said at a press conference in Phnom Penh on Friday.

Hor Namhong filed defamation and disinformation charges against Sam Rainsy April 22 after the opposition leader made remarks at an April 17 ceremony at the Choeung Ek Killing Fields indirectly accusing Hor Namhong of being the chief of the notorious former Khmer Rouge Boeung Trabek prison.

The court made the request to strip Sam Rainsy’s immunity after the prosecution had gathered evidence it alleges indicates that Sam Rainsy committed defamation and disinformation.

Sam Rainsy said he was not afraid of the threats to deprive him of his immunity, and he alleged that the ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) is driving the move to divert people’s attention away from skyrocketing goods prices and land disputes which it is unable to deal with. He said these “political threats” stem from the CPP’s fear that it will lose the election to his Sam Rainsy party and that the threats could adversely affect the election.

In addition to Hor Namhong’s recent promise, NA officials had earlier announced that it would be impossible to remove Sam Rainsy’s immunity before the election, as the NA is in recess during the election campaign. They said the possible removal of the opposition leader’s immunity would be decided after the election.

Sam Rainsy has failed to appear to testify at the lawsuit filed by Hor Namhong on two occasions, claiming that he was occupied on party business. Sam Rainsy will again be required to appear in court June 26, but his lawyer Choung Chougy claimed his client may not be able to appear as he is very busy.

Authorities cannot arrest or detain Sam Rainsy while his immunity has not been suspended.

Dam Sith, editor-in-chief of the SRP-affiliated newspaper Moneaksekar Khmer, was arrested and jailed for a week after the newspaper quoted Sam Rainsy’s remarks. The journalist was released following a request for bail from Prime Minister Hun Sen.

CACJE's Special Statement regarding the Sam Rainsy Party

Cambodian Action Committee for Justice & Equity

No: 0032 CACJE

Special Meeting in Stockton of California,
June 22, 2008

SPECIAL STATEMENT

Click here to read to original Statement in English
Click here to read the Statement in Khmer

The Cambodian Action Committee for Justice & Equity (CACJE) denounces the baseless smear campaign of the Royal Government of Cambodia (RGC) and the Cambodian People Party (CPP) against the members of Sam Rainsy Party (SRP) and their President Sam Rainsy. The Royal Government of Cambodia and the CPP distorted facts and fabricated stories and threatened innocent people in the following cases:

1. The RGC and the CPP accused the SRP and her President Sam Rainsy as the founder of the Cambodian Freedom Fighters (CFF) and Khmer Moha Nokor Movement

This accusation is baseless because, according to the verdict of the Los Angeles Court (USA), Chunn Yasith, the defender, was the sole Chief responsible of the creation and the execution of the Cambodian Freedom Fighters Operations. There was neither cooperation nor alliance between the CFF with other person or other movement for the creation and the operational execution.

As the UN rejected LEUK Bun Nhean status as refugee, LEUK Bun Nhean engages in spy operation for the benefit of the RGC and the CPP. His spy master is Gen. Mol Roeup, chair of Q 101 Bureau. Nhean’s mission was to infiltrate and spy on Cambodian refugees living in Thailand.

To recruit people for his spy operation, he uses money and the appointment to a high grade officer as bait. By this procedure, he recruits Heng Ran. In present, Bun Nhean also tried to recruit some among people who were victims of the violation human rights abuses of the Royal Government of Cambodia and who came to Thailand to seek for the UN protection as refugee. Nhean and Ran based on document he had stolen from the UN Refugee Bureau to fabricate a phony list of these people who were seeking the UN protection.

According to Nhean and Ran, the people in the said list they had shown at Phnom Penh were members of SRP and the CFF, the convicted organization by the Los Angeles court as terrorist organization. By this distortion of fact, the CPP and the Royal Government of Cambodia intended to accuse the SRP members as collaborators or members of the CFF. Therefore the Royal Government of Cambodia can jail them all as terrorist.

Moha Nokor’s Affair

Chan Dara Veasna, the President of Maha Nokor Movement, is the nephew of Say Chhum, the General Secretary of the Cambodian Communist Party, the CPP. Maha Nokor Movement is created and financed by Say Chhum with supported by Hok Lundi.

Under the guidance of Gen Hok Lundi, Moha Nokor Movement aim was to infiltrate and destroy Sam Rainsy Party before the legislative election 2008.

2. Hun Sen’ people accused Sam Rainsy to plot to kill Hun Sen in Siemreap.

Hun Sen people distorted the fact. The truth is: It was Hing Bun Heang, the deputy chief cabinet and Commander Body Guard Unit of Hun Sen, who planned to kill Sam Raignsy. Indeed, during 2004-2005, Hing Bun Heang assigned a hitman named Srun under the aka name Phkay Preuk (Venus Star), Lt of the Intervention Forces of Hun Sen Body Guard Unit to infiltrate Sam Raignsy Body Guard Unit. Phkay Preuk proposed to Sam Rainsy Body guards leadership a reward of $250,000 plus new cars to assassinate the opponent leader, Sam Rainsy.

The Phkay Preuk plan to assassinate Hun Sen [KI-Media note: This should read "to assassinate Sam Rainsy" instead] was constituted of three folds:

• Infiltrate three hitmen inside Sam Rainsy Body Guard Unit.
• Foment troubles during Sam Raignsy public meetings.
• During SRP meeting chaos, kill Sam Rainsy in close range.

The above Phkay Preuk plan was implemented on January 29, 2005 when Sam Raignsy traveled to attend in public meeting at Vat Chompou Vorn (Buddhist Pagoda), in the district of Dangkor, Phnom Penh suburb. At that time Hing Bun Heang, the Deputy Chief of Hun Sen Body Guard Unit, had sent two hitmen to infiltrate inside Sam Raignsy Body Guards Unit.

The Phkay Preuk plan of assassination of Raingsy was leaked to Sam Rainsy security guard leader. Instantaneously, the Moto Doop members and the public crowded the access roads to Sam Raignsy meeting, mainly the Soviet Union of Russia Boulevard. Practically with their body they protected Sam Rainsy. Finally, the Phkay Preuk plan failed miserably.

3. Sam Rainsy Versus Hor Nam Hong

The Sam Rainsy versus Hor Nam Hong must not be ruled by the Phnom Penh Tribunal. It must be instead ruled by the Extraordinary Chambers of the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) whose main objectives were to judge former Khmer Rouge genociders.

The ECCC has the authority to query Hor Nam Hong about his actions 33 years ago as Direction of the Beung Trabek Prison. About eight hundred prisoners were put to death during his watch. Only the co-persecutors, Cambodian and international judges of the ECCC had the authority to ask the National Assembly to lift the parliamentary immunity of Sam Rainsy and Hor Nam Hong, then, from there to get a court case.

CACJE would like to add, not only Hor Nam Hong was the President the Santibal (Security Forces) Office, that’s the prison during the Khmer Rouge regime, he was also the chief executive of incarceration and execution of several thousands of people of Bopea (East) Zone in the mid of 1977.

Sincerely,

SOURN Serey Ratha
Chief of Mission

Immediate release to public and media

EU Martin Callanan: All Cambodian politicians [including Hor Namhong] should get used to being criticized

Martin Callanan, EU MEP

Attempt to strip Sam Rainsy’s immunity postponed

20 June 2008
By Kim Pov Sottan
Radio Free Asia
Translated from Khmer by Heng Soy
Click here to read the original article in Khmer

On Friday, the European Union indicated that the attempt by the Cambodian court to lift opposition leaders Sam Rainsy’s parliamentary immunity, so that he can be charged by the lawsuit brought up by Hor Namhong, will be postponed.

Martin Callanan, the chairman of the EU election observers group who just arrived in Cambodia and met with Hor Namhong on Thursday afternoon, claimed that Hor Namhong agreed to postpone this case.

Martin Callanan said: “I met with Mr. Hor Namhong and I raised about the immunity stripping issue, Mr. Hor Namhong confirmed to me that Mr. Sam Rainsy will not be stripped of his immunity before the election campaign.”

In a press conference held in the afternoon of Friday about the progress of the EU work in the election observation, Martin Callanan sent a message to all Cambodian politicians to get used to being criticized, saying: “As a politician myself, we must face all the news that could affect us, whether that news is true or not. We must get used to live with false information because we are politicians.”

The Phnom Penh municipal court recently requested for an immediate stripping of opposition leader Sam Rainsy’s immunity so that it can take measures against him stemming from the defamation lawsuit brought up Hor Namhong regarding the accusation that he was the former Boeng Trabek jail chief under the KR regime.

This request led to concerns about the potential arrest of Sam Rainsy, and the EU believes that this will severely affect the run up to the election. The EU indicated also that it sent 130 election observers, 22 of whom are EU MPs. These observers will be arriving in Cambodia soon.

The EU observers will start working with all political parties starting now, in order to push for the holding of free elections that abide with the international standards.

National Assembly cannot be convened immediately to lift Sam Rainsy’s immunity: Heng Samrin

18 June 2008
By Sok Serey
Radio Free Asia
Translated from Khmer by Socheata
Click here to read the original article in Khmer

A high-ranking official claimed that the National Assembly (NA) cannot convene a plenary session yet to lift opposition leader Sam Rainsy’s immunity during a time when the NA is in recess, and the 27 July general election is fast approaching.

Heng Samrin, NA president, gave a short interview to RFA over the phone this Wednesday, saying that there are several reasons that make the NA unable to convene a plenary session immediately.

Heng Samrin said: “There cannot be an immediate session, because the NA is currently in recess, there is no session, the election is under way. Only when there is a request for a plenary session from the prime minister or the king to lift the immunity for this to happen. If there is no request from the prime minister or the king, there cannot be any discussion because we are now in recess, and we are holding the election campaign. This issue must be decided later.”

He indicated that the NA did not receive the letter from the Phnom Penh municipal court requesting the lifting of Sam Rainsy’s immunity yet.

Opposition leader Sam Rainsy said in reaction to the request for lifting his immunity by the Phnom Penh municipal court that: “What they want to do with the lifting of my immunity is to arrest me. This shows that the CPP is in disarray, they are afraid of the SRP, they know that they will lose to the SRP in the upcoming election.”

On Monday, reports indicated that the Phnom Penh municipal court asked the NA to lift Sam Rainsy’s immunity to allow the court to charge him or arrest him stemming from a lawsuit by Hor Namhong, the minister of Foreign Affairs, regarding defamation and disinformation.

Dam Sith, the editor-in-chief of the Moneaksekar Khmer newspaper and also a SRP candidate for the city of Phnom Penh, was released on bail on 15 June, after Hun Sen vouched for him personally.

Dam Sith was arrested by the Phnom Penh military police, sent to the court, and charged with defamation and disinformation after his newspaper published an article in April quoting Sam Rainsy’s speech saying at the Choeung Ek Memorial, but not naming anyone in particular, that the minister of Foreign Affairs was the former Boeng Trabek jail chief under the KR regime.

Hor Namhong, the minister of Foreaign Affairs, rejected this accusation, and he sued both Dam Sith and Sam Rainsy.