Jailed opposition activist walks free

Thursday, 16 December 2010
Meas Sokchea
The Phnom Penh Post

JAILED Sam Rainsy Party activist Tuot Saron was released yesterday by Kampong Thom provincial court, following the receipt of a letter of pardon from King Norodom Sihamoni last month.

Tuot Saron, who is also the chief of Pongro commune in Baray district, was arrested on March 18, 2008 ahead of that year’s national election, and sentenced to three years’ imprisonment for abducting and illegally holding an SRP election candidate against their will.

The SRP has long contested the charges, arguing that they were politically motivated. His release, which comes around four months ahead of the expiration of his jail term, was approved by the King in a letter of pardon dated November 26.

SRP lawmaker Son Chhay welcomed his release yesterday, but said Tuot Saron should never have been jailed in the first place. He repeated the party’s earlier claims that the charges against Tuot Saron were political.

“It is regrettable. Tuot Saron should have been released a long time ago because he was jailed due to political motivations,” Son Chhay said. “This release, it almost reaches to three-year [term] limit. Doing it like this it is very bad.”

In September, British-based rights group Amnesty International called for the “immediate and unconditional release” of the activist, describing him as a “prisoner of conscience”.

“Amnesty International believes that the accusations against [Tuot Saron] were baseless and politically motivated, in order to intimidate other opposition party activists,” the organisation said in a statement issued September 15.

The Amnesty statement said that Tuot Saron and three other SRP members were approached in 2008 “for protection” by another SRP candidate under pressure from the CPP to switch party affiliations. After travelling with her from Kampong Thom to Phnom Penh, he was arrested and held in pretrial detention until he was sentenced in March 2009.

Following his release yesterday, Tuot Saran vowed to continue fighting injustice and would try to serve the people in his old role as commune chief.

“I won’t be scared of anything,” he said. “I would like to call for all members and activists of the party not to have bad feelings. We must continue together our political affairs to fight for freedom, justice, and democracy.”

Kampong Thom provincial court president Khorn Sokal, who approved Tuot Saron’s release, could not be reached for comment yesterday.

Ros Sokhet intends to start an anticorruption newspaper that will target Prime Minister Hun Sen and provide a platform for the opposition parties

Ros Sokhet is led into a van before being returned to prison after a hearing at Phnom Penh Municipal Court in October 2009. (Photo by: Sovan Philong)

Freed journalist to file appeal

Monday, 08 November 2010
Tep Nimol
The Phnom Penh Post

A JOURNALIST who was recently released from prison after serving a year on disinformation charges says he will file an appeal today to the Supreme Court to have his conviction quashed and to demand US$120,000 in damages from the government.

Ros Sokhet, who was sentenced to two years in prison after allegedly sending threatening text messages to news anchor Soy Sopheap, was released last month after serving a year in prison. Despite his release, which followed the intervention of Information Minister Khieu Kanharith, Ros Sokhet said he wanted his “whole case” re-investigated.

“If the court increases my jail term, I’ll accept it, but only if the court makes it clear for me,” he said yesterday.

Ros Sokhet said Khieu Kanharith wrote to Justice Minister Ang Vong Vattana on Friday, thanking him for helping secure the journalist’s release.

He added, however, that this was merely a way for the information minister to close the case without addressing the charges he wanted dropped.

But Sam Brochea, a cabinet chief at the Ministry of Justice, said government officials had been working on Ros Sokhet’s release since September, before the journalist said he wrote to officials requesting his release.

Ros Sokhet said he was confident he would be awarded the $120,000 he was seeking in compensation, and that he planned to donate $50,000 to the Sam Rainsy and Human Rights parties for their 2013 national election campaigns.

He also intends to start an anticorruption newspaper that will target Prime Minister Hun Sen and provide a platform for the opposition parties.

SRP postpones trip to Svay Rieng prison

Chhoeung Sarin, the wife of imprisoned villager Prom Chea, appears at a recent protest against the jailing of her husband and another villager for uprooting border posts in Svay Rieng province. (Photo by: Heng Chivoan)

Tuesday, 18 May 2010
Kim Yuthana
The Phnom Penh Post

THE Sam Rainsy Party has postponed a trip to Svay Rieng province, scheduled for today, to visit two villagers sentenced to prison earlier this year for their participation in an SRP-led protest in October, opposition officials said Monday.

The SRP delivered a request earlier this month to Kaen Savoeun, chief of the Svay Rieng provincial prison, asking for permission to send a delegation to visit the pair, Meas Srey and Prum Chea, both residents of Svay Rieng’s Chantrea district. SRP spokesman Yim Sovann said that Kaen Savoeun had passed the request to the Court of Appeal, which had then passed it to the Department of Prisons at the Interior Ministry.

Yim Sovann said the SRP was frustrated by the bureaucratic hurdles it was being forced to negotiate as it seeks to visit the villagers. “I feel so sorry to see the weak administration system in our country. The system is not clear,” Yim Sovann said. “Do they intend to allow us to visit the prisoners or not?”

Heng Hak, director of the Department of Prisons, could not be reached for comment Monday, though he said last week that he would consider the SRP request whenever he received it.

Yim Sovann said that the SRP plans to send a letter to Minister of Interior Sar Kheng today, asking him to grant permission for the visit.

In January, Svay Rieng provincial court sentenced Meas Srey, 39, and Prum Chea, 41, to one year in prison after they joined opposition leader Sam Rainsy in uprooting six temporary border posts in Chantrea district in October. Villagers say the posts were placed in their rice fields illegally by Vietnamese officials.

Sam Rainsy, who was sentenced to two years prison in the same case, is currently living in self-exile in France.

A group of SRP parliamentarians and doctors visited the villagers in March, accusing prison workers of providing the pair with inadequate health care.

Chhoeung Sarin, Prum Chea’s wife, said Monday that she was happy to hear of the SRP delegation’s plans to visit her husband. “I still support the SRP for its efforts to help my family get our rice fields back, and for not abandoning us when we have a problem,” she said.

The Plastic Killers [- Born Samnang: "They can turn black to white"]

A documentary film by Bradley Cox

“The Plastic Killers” is a documentary which investigates the 2004 assassination of Cambodian union leader Chea Vichea and the framing of two innocent men, Born Samnang and Sok Sam Oeun, for the crime. The two remain in prison serving 20 year sentences for a crime they did not commit.

Watch Bradley Cox's documentary below:

Click To Play Part 1 of 4

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Click To Play Part 4 of 4