SRP points fingers over campaign interference

Tuesday, 22 May 2012
Meas Sokchea
The Phnom Penh Post

Only four days into the commune election campaigning period and complaints of campaign interference are already flowing, NEC legal department director Keo Phalla said yesterday.

Keo Phalla said that as of Sunday, the commune elections commission had received seven complaints, with two of those in Banteay Meanchey and one each in Kratie, Pursat, Svay Rieng, Kampong Chhnang and Kampong Speu.

Opposition Sam Rainsy Party officials in Kampong Thom yesterday said they were also filing a complaint in Prasat Balang district’s Doung commune today.

Sun Chanthy, Kampong Thom SRP secretary, said the party was filing a complaint against the Commune Election Committee president Pa Bunthorng, who they allege has been gate-crashing their campaign meetings and challenging members to fistfights.

KRouge judge says staff interfered with justice

05 May 2012
AFP

A judge at Cambodia's Khmer Rouge tribunal on Friday accused several colleagues of interfering with controversial investigations into new cases, in a parting blow before leaving the country.

Swiss judge Laurent Kasper-Ansermet, who rocked the UN-backed war crimes court in March when he became the second judge to quit in protest at alleged political meddling, said in his last statement he had worked "in a highly hostile environment".

He said he had "reason to believe that several individuals, both current and former staff members... have interfered with the conduct of the investigation" and that he had reported them to the national courts.

Observers said it was unlikely the courts would do much about his complaint.

Cambodian Politics: The enemy of my enemy is my friend

Will Kem Sokha (L) and Mao Monyvann (R) line themselves up with the CPP? (Photo: CEN)

Op-Ed by Timothy Chhim
Originally posted at: http://timothychhim.blogspot.com

"The enemy of their enemy is their friend"

Perhaps Kem Sokha is taking Soy Sopheap's advice.

Please see: http://youtu.be/6J60RKfpAUo for Soy Sopheap's comment.

Soy Sopheap urged SRP members to follow Mao Monyvan wherever he goes.

If we read between the lines, it appears that Soy Sopheap is siding with HRP and Mao Monyvan in their efforts to chop down SRP.

Knowing that Soy Sopheap has better relationship with the CPP than with any other parties, his advice to Kem Sokha brings HRP closer to the CPP not to SRP. This makes Sam Rainsy’s statement relevant when he questioned Kem Sokha’s motives behind all activities done by Kem Sokha.

The lingering and dubious questions behind such motives started even before HRP was created. It will linger indefinitely until the issues of HRP’s relationship with the ruling party are clarified. I doubt that all questions can be explained satisfactorily given the nature of HRP’s business activities and Kem Sokha’s family and personal connection with the CPP. However, most SRP members know Kem Sokha and his HRP’s operation better than many of us do.

Khmer Krom divided in commemoration

Wednesday, 04 June 2008
Ly Menghour
The Mekong Times

Two Khmer Krom organizations will today hold separate commemorations of the 59th anniversary of the French ceding of Kampuchea Krom to Vietnam June 4, 1949.

The Khmer Kampuchea Krom Community is to hold the ceremony at Chaktomuk Conference Hall, while the Khmer Kampuchea Krom Coordination Committee (KKKCC) is holding their ceremony at KKKCC head office in the Phnom Penh suburbs.

Kim Van Chheng, president of the KKKCC – an umbrella organization counting six Khmer Krom associations as members – said their traditional Buddhist ceremony is for “dedicating merit to the souls of hero monks, kings, heroes and heroines who sacrificed their strength for their nation, religion and King.”

Thach Setha, executive director of the Khmer Kampuchea Krom Community, said his organization is holding a ceremony at their head office after being refused permission to use Wat Botum. “We requested permission from City Hall, but they declined,” he said. “[E]very year since 2000, we have held a ceremony near Botum Pagoda without any problem. But this year they stopped us.”

Thach Setha, also a senior member of the opposition Sam Rainsy Party, said he has invited 1,949 monks to symbolize the year France ceded Khmer Kampuchea to Vietnam. “The events tomorrow are … to help the [young] Cambodian generation remember the lost Khmer Kampuchea Krom land but it’s not a day for anger or threats,” he stressed.

Ceremonies involving Khmer Kampuchea Krom monks’ associations are conspicuous only by their absence. The well-known Khmer Krom Samaki Rangsey Pagoda in Phnom Penh’s Meanchey district decided against a commemoration, said the Venerable Yoeurng Sin, chief monk of Khmer Samaki Rangsey Pagoda and chief of the Kampuchea Krom Monk Association.

Khmer Krom organizations are notorious for their feuds and infighting, despite a common goal of freeing the 10 million ethnic Khmer Krom living under Vietnamese rule.

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KI-Media Note: Kim Van Chheng is currently a member of the ruling CPP party, a party installed by invading Vietnamese troops.

OSJI urges further ECCC kickback investigation

Justice Watchdog Urges Further Kickback Investigation

Mean Veasna, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
29/06/2007

A tribunal watchdog has called on the UN to further investigate charges that Cambodian judges pay kickbacks to high-ranking officials in order to sit on the courts, while outlining a bevy of weaknesses that remain in the process to try former top Khmer Rouge leaders.

The Open Society Justice Initiative praised agreement on internal rules for the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, but said the UNDP must ensure a recent audit of the courts' human resource management unit is acted upon.

OSJI's Cambodia Justice Initiative Director Long Panhavuth said the UNDP audit should be made public to quell doubts over kickbacks.

"If the report is not made public, then the people are still in doubt about the problem which has not been solved," he said. "So we believe that there should be an investigation to ensure the whole tribunal is just."

The courts have so far declined to release the audit.

In a June report, OSJI cited the courts failure to address "persistent allegations" of kickbacks as a threat to the credibility of the tribunal. It further cited "flaws in the Cambodian judicial selection process" and "delays and fractures between the national and international judges" as impediments to justice.

"Challenges" to the tribunal, OSJI said, included "maintaining the reality and appearance of independence and impartiality of the judiciary and other organs of the court; ensuring compliance with due process and fair trial standards; fostering transparency and public engagement; and improving overall capacity and effectiveness of operations."

"As the ECCC moves into its investigations phase, immediate steps must be taken on an array of issues," OSJI said, "including: getting the courtrooms ready for pre-trial hearings, which are expected to start in a few months; providing protection and support to potential witnesses; making the court's operations more accessible to the Cambodian public through enhanced outreach; and instituting more transparent reporting on the court's financial and administrative operations."

"Without prompt attention to these and other needs," OSJI said, "further delays will likely plague the court and erode public confidence."

OSJI has been involved in a row with the courts since it pointed out allegations of kickbacks in February. Government and court officials strongly denied the allegations, and a spokesman said the government had considered severing ties with the group or ejecting some of its members.

The OSJI report and statement Wednesday received little credence at the courts, ECCC spokesman Reach Sambath said Friday.

"Everyday, we do not work based on this report," he said. "We understand what we have to do. Some of the points [in the report] are unreasonable and are not being used. So, our goal is to have a good tribunal, and it will take a long time."