Opposition Party Members Claim Persecution by Kandal Court

With local elections to be held later this year, opposition officials say they are being unduly persecuted in cases minor and major. (Photo: AP)

Tuesday, 14 February 2012
Heng Reaksmey, VOA Khmer | Phnom Penh

They were released and asked to return with witnesses for another hearing, court officials said.

Kandal provincial court summoned two opposition party supporters for questioning over the destruction of property Tuesday in a dispute with another local man.

The two men, who are Sam Rainsy Party commune officials, were questioned over the destruction of six land markers they say were put in place illegally on public land.

Nai Nep, who is 70 and a commune chief, said he had refused a bribe by villager Sem Khin, who had put fencing up around public land in Pha Av commune, Bantheay district, Kampong Cham province. When Nai Nep took down the fencing, he was accused of destruction of property.

Pen Puthsphea go into hiding after being accused of criticizing the gov't and after receiving death threat

Pen Puthsphea
Pen Puthsphea's General Knowledge book

Mr. Pen Puthsphea, author General Knowledge Book is hiding in safety after he received a death threat phone call from unknown assailant on July 19, 2010.

On July 5, 2010, the Ministry of Education of Cambodia issued a letter to the Ministry of Information to confiscate two of his books published in 2006 call General Knowledge. The letter pointed out that the book general knowledge volume I (Published on 1 January 2006) page 146 and 147, and book general knowledge volume II (published on 2 December 2006) page 100 and 101 were political propaganda where the author dare to criticize the government.

The Ministry ordered the authority to confiscate all the books and warned publisher not to print any more book.

Mr. Pen Puthsphea, currently is a reporter for the Sam Rainsy Party’s Radio program called the Candle Light Radio program. As a reporter for the opposition party, he is constantly under the government surveillance in order to intimidate and suppress the freedom of speech that publishes by the opposition party.

Sam Rainsy thanks Yash Ghai for telling the truth about Cambodia to the UN

Yash Ghai's meeting with opposition leader Sam Rainsy (Photo: Sralanh Khmer)

Saturday, December 08, 2007
By Chey Dara
Sralanh Khmer newspaper
Translated from Khmer by Socheata

Cambodian opposition leader Sam Rainsy thanked Mr. Yash Ghai, the UN Special Envoy on Human Rights in Cambodia, for telling the truth about Cambodia to the UN.

Sam Rainsy told Sralanh Khmer yesterday that he met Mr. Yash Ghai at 8:00 AM on 07 December 2007 in Phnom Penh. He and Mr. Ghai raised several issues, among others, the UN Special Envoy discussed about his meeting with the SRP Pate commune chief in Ratanakiri province. The accusation leveled by the ruling party on the Pate commune chief has no basis whatsoever.

Sam Rainsy said: “In the name of Cambodian people who love justice, who demand for the proper respect of human rights in Cambodia, I thanked Professor Yash Ghai who is the representative of the UN Secretary-general in Cambodia for his truthful report on the general human rights situation in Cambodia, and for exposing his findings to the UN. Therefore his reports clarify the public both inside and outside of Cambodia, and that we must reflect and raised these issues and provide a fair resolution to them.”

Sam Rainsy said that Mr. Yash Ghai met with the SRP Pate commune chief in Ratanakiri province, and he said that the SRP commune chief is not at fault. He (Pate commune chief) helped the Jaray ethnic minority people in Ratanakiri to protect their lands, he also helped people to avoid being arrested, these actions made him popular and he was elected as the commune chief in April. Sam Rainsy said that the hardship imposed by the authority on the Pate commune chief is unfair.

Sam Om Yin, the SRP Pate commune chief, is currently jailed in Ratanakiri province stemming from a charge that he was involved in human trafficking. However, Mr. Yash Ghai who met Sam Om Yin in jail, indicated that Sam Om Yin is blameless. During this meeting, the authority pressured Sam Om Yin, making it such that he could not talk properly with Mr. Yash Ghai. Sam Rainsy said that the arrest of Sam Om Yin is a violation of human rights that must be followed closely.

Mr. Yash Ghai also raised about the land dispute issue in Cambodia, in which the authority imposed hardship on the people, such as confiscating their lands, burning their houses, and arresting and jailing the representatives of the victims. The court system is nothing more than a tool for the powerful to pressure the people and members of the SRP party, because the majority of the people who provided help to the poor and the weak consist mainly of SRP commune councilors.

Mr. Yash Ghai told Sam Rainsy that he will take all these issues in Cambodia to expose to the UN so that the world knows about them.

Sam Rainsy also called on the UN to follow up on the threats leveled against the meetings to organize the structure of the Sam Rainsy Youth Movement in a number of regions in Cambodia. He indicated that with the approaching election, (political) threats increase, especially threats leveled against the youths who came to meet with the SRP party leaders.

Sam Rainsy said that the authority in certain region have threatened the youths, saying that it will not guarantee their safety if they participate in SRP meetings. He added that Mr. Yash Ghai is also concerned about this issue. Mr. Ghai said that following his report of this issue to the UN, all the people who are involved in political misdeeds will be afraid, and they will surely loosen up on their threats.

This is Mr. Yash Ghai’s fourth visit to Cambodia, he was never allowed to meet with Hun Sen yet. Yash Ghai said that power in Cambodia rests in the hand of only one person, and his statement angered Hun Sen who called Mr. Yash Ghai a god without virtue, and a long-term tourist. Hun Sen declared that, even if Mr. Yash Ghai asks to meet him 1,000 times in a row, he still would not allow the meeting to happen.

Nevertheless, Mr. Yash Ghai did report that the human rights violations in Cambodia is true, in particular regarding land dispute cases where the rich and powerful use armed people to repress the actual owners of the land. Furthermore, the non-independent court system is nothing more than a tool used to repress people and members of the opposition. Sam Rainsy thanked Mr. Yash Ghai for reporting about the truth in Cambodia to the UN.