Journalists plan to hold a non-violent demonstration

Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Everyday.com.kh
Translated from Khmer by Socheata

About 150 local and international journalists plan to hold a non-violent demonstration in front of the ministry of Justice and the Phnom Penh municipal court on 22 June to appeal for justice for journalists and other innocent people whose rights have been abused, The Mekong Times reported. The announcement for the demonstration plan by the journalists took place after Dam Sith, the editor-in-chief of the Moneaksekar Khmer newspaper and other journalists were jailed this year. Ek Visarakhun, the secretary-general of the Cambodian Press Council (CPC), said on 16 June that his group sent a request to the city hall and informed all the authorities involved to hold the peaceful and non-violent demonstration in front of the ministry of Justice and the Phnom Penh municipal court. Dr. Pung Chiv Kek, executive director of the Licadho human rights group, said that it is a good thing that journalists in Cambodia appeal to end the pressure and rights violations by those holding power.

Son Chhay questions Hun Sen over advisors’ appointment

Translated from Khmer by Socheata

Click here to read the original letter in Khmer

To Prime Minister Hun Sen of Cambodia

Through the intermediary of Samdech Heng Samrin, President of the National Assembly

Subject: Request for an immediate ending of the practice of nominating of advisors holding the rank of ministers and state secretaries. Request to send the names of all the advisors who received a government salary to the National Assembly.

Based on:

1. Article 90 (2) of the constitution which stipulated that: “The assembly shall pass a vote of confidence in the Royal Government by an absolute majority of all members.”
2. The nomination of numerous people, including businessmen, low-ranking officials, to the position of advisor of the prime minister, of the president of the National Assembly, of the president of the Senate, with the rank of ministers, secretaries of state, and under secretaries of state.

Based on the subject and the references cited above, I am informing Samdech Prime Minister that, based on observation, the third mandate government have nominated businessmen, government workers, and members of various parties who defected from their parties as advisors to the government, with the rank of ministers and secretaries of state, and nobody knows how many hundreds these are, nor do anyone know their individual expertise in helping the country with good governance as a state of law, because the government must spend a lot of budget for the salaries of these people.

With the complaints from ministers, who are the ministry leaders, saying that they have difficulties organizing work at their ministries when the low-ranking officials are nominated as advisors of the country leadership, and they also hold the position of ministers like them (actual ministers), this situation prevent the ministers from actually ruling over these advisors who have the same rank as them (ministers).

There are also complaints from the police saying that a number of crooked businessmen who received the title of advisors to the country leaders, used their positions and titles to violate various laws, and created difficulties for the police to fight against these violatioins, such as land-grabbing activities from the people, contraband, and the avoidance to pay tax to the state, etc…

There are criticisms from a number of parties about the ruling party using its power to nominate political defectors who joined it, and these defectors received benefits as advisors with the rank of ministers, for example, saying that this rights violation of other equal political parties by the use of money and illegal government positions, will affect the free and fair election.

Knowing that the King is very reluctant in forcing himself to sign the decrees nominating these individuals to high ranking position, only to serve the interest of the ruling party,

Based on the opinion that the nomination of any individual to the rank of ministers or secretaries of state must require the agreement from the National Assembly through a majority approval vote from all the MPs beforehand,

Because there is no country in the world where the Prime Minister has so many advisors and spends state budgets as he wants, unlike what is happening in the current Kingdom of Cambodia,

I am asking the Prime Minister to review for an immediate end of these nominations of advisors with the rank of ministers or secretary of states, and to review those who were already nominated but do not have the expertise, or they are not necessary, in order to remove them so as to preserve the order in the governance in a responsible country, and to cut down the unnecessary expense on these advisors also.

At the same time, in order to learn about the number of government advisors, I am asking the Prime Minister to please send the list of all these advisors, with the specification of their expertise, and the advises they provided to the government in the past.

I hope that the Prime Minister will agree with the request above.

Please accept my highest respect.

Done in Phnom Penh, 18 February 2008
Son Chhay
Phnom Penh MP

Viewed and Sent to Hun Sen
Phnom Penh, 20 February 2008
Heng Samrin

Court watch reveals serious violations of legal rights in 2006: CSD

26 Feb 2007
Cambodian Press Review

Even the most fundamental legal rights are being violated in Cambodian courts, and reform in the judicial system is progressing at a snails pace, the Centre for Social Development (CSD), wrote in its annual court watch report Friday, report newspapers.

The judicial system is suffering from a severe shortage in competent lawyers, and currently minors are often being tried without any legal counsel, said the report, writes Cambodge Soir.

In total 1,491 trials in the Phnom Penh, Kandal, Appeals and Supreme courts were observed by the organization between October 2005 and September 2006. Fifty-five percent of defendants were observed to be tried with no trained legal representation, while 39 percent were held in pre-trial detention for longer than the legal limit of six months, according to the report, reports The Cambodia Daily.

For minors, the monitoring found that 31 percent of under-18s were tried without counsel, while 46 percent were held in pre-trial detention for longer than six months. The legal time limit for juveniles to be kept awaiting trial is just two months, continues the newspaper.

Yeng Virak, director of judicial rights NGO the Community Legal Education Center (CLEC), expressed his regret in the report’s findings. “Is the judge’s trial of minors to show the law respect, or do they just want to teach them a lesson? I do not think that prison is a place of education for children, but it is a place which creates future criminals,”he said, writes Cambodge Soir.

Defendants were often refused the right to question their accusers, while in Phnom Penh Municipal Court 92 percent of trials took place without any witnesses, yet still held a conviction rate of over 90 percent, writes The Cambodia Daily.

CSD Director Theary Seng said at the launch of the report: “The right to justice has not been had by all. There are often no lawyers available or when there are they have difficulty meeting or contacting their clients, and they frequently have little time to prepare documents in order to protest in the hearings”, according to Cambodge Soir.

It is a severe shortage, a procedural problem and more importantly only the suspect normally appears in the hearing, without the presence of the victim or a witness, the lack of justice is more serious than the crime which has been caused,” she added.

According to Ke Sakhorn, the deputy director of the municipal court, the allegations that the court is not following proper legal procedures are from people found guilty who are bitter, and that the reason that victims and witnesses are not in the court is that they just do not show up, writes The Cambodia Daily. If half of the defendants monitored didn’t have lawyers, it is because they decided not to have one, he claimed.