Showing posts with label King-Father's lawsuit. Show all posts
Showing posts with label King-Father's lawsuit. Show all posts

Sunday, May 13, 2007

The 1-riel lawsuit: King-Father vs Sralanh Khmer newspaper

1-riel bill currency: the left one was used prior to 1975, and the right one was used after 1979, currently Cambodian no longer has a 1-riel bill in circulation anymore. However, King-Father's lawyer demanded that a 1-riel damage compensation be paid to King-Father for defamation and publication of a false story, by Sralanh Khmer newspaper which published an article publicly posted online ciritical of Queen-Mother. The original author of the article who currently resides in France, invited King-Father to sue him in a French court, but no such action has been taken yet, and only the local Sralanh Khmer newspaper is subjected to King-Father's wrath with a lawsuit in a court which several claim as lacking in fairness, and highly corrupt.

Saturday, May 12, 2007
Sralanh Khmer Editor deposits 1 riel

Kampuchea Thmei newspaper
Translated from Khmer by Heng Soy

The director of the Sralanh Khmer newspaper sent 1 riel ($0.00025) to the Phnom Penh municipal court as demanded in the lawsuit brought up the lawyer of King-Father and Queen-Mother (against the newspaper).

Chhit Sarith, the lawyer of Thach Ket, the director of Sralanh Khmer, said that his client worked hard to find a 1 riel bill which was used only during the State of Kampuchea era (under the Vietnamese occupation), and during the Sangkum Reastr Niyum era. The 1 riel bill was handed over the Phnom Penh municipal court for safekeeping as demanded in the lawsuit brought up by Ka Savuth, the lawyer of King-Father and Queen-Mother.

Lawyer Chhit Sarith added that following his client handing over the 1 riel bill to the Phnom Penh municipal court, he does not know whethter the court will decide to dismiss the defamation lawsuit brought up against his client or not.

Ker Sakhorn, the deputy-director of the Phnom Penh municipal court in charge of investigation in this case, told Kampuchea Thmei newspaper that in the afternoon of 11 May 2007, the prosecutor of the Phnom Penh municipal court decided to charge Thach Ket, the director of Sralanh Khmer. Therefore, there is no possibility of dismissal of the case. This means that Ker Sakhorn will send the case for trial.

Ker Sakhorn added that the final decision will be up to the judge presiding the case, based on the law, because this charge stems from a newspaper publication.

On 21 March 2007, Ka Savuth, the lawyer of King-Father and Queen-Mother, sent a complaint to the Phnom Penh municipal court to sue Thach Ket, the director of Sralanh Khmer, for defamation and publication of a false story. The complaint was accompanied by an article titled “Monique is a Yuon woman, and she should not be considered as Queen-Mother or Queen-Grandmother of the Cambodian people” which was published on 15-16 March 2007. This article is the source of the complaint. In the lawsuit lodged against the newspaper, King-Father’s lawyer demanded a 1-riel damage compensation, but it did not specify which era the 1-riel currency should come from.

On 27 March 2007, Uk Savuth, the prosecutor of the Phnom Penh municipal court, decided to charge Thach Ket of publishing false information and defamation, and the case was sent to the investigating judge to pursue the case further.

Prior to the lawsuit, Sralanh Khmer published in its entirety, a disclaimer by Senator Oum Manorine, and Mrs. Oum Sophanit, the wife of Senator Iev Pannakar, on its frontpage. The disclaimer was a rebuke to the newspaper publication which affected the honor of King-Father and Queen-Mother.

Thursday, March 29, 2007

Cambodian royal benevolence redux? The weak got hit by a lawsuit, the strong got away with a praise for the same offense

Thursday, March 29, 2007
Lawsuit filed against newspaper on behalf of King-Father

By Kong Sothanarith
Cambodge Soir

Unofficial Translation from French by Tola Ek

Click here to Cambodge Soir’s original article in French

The royal palace minister filed a lawsuit against the Sralanh Khmer newspaper at the request made by King-Father who found the articles published by the newspaper to be insulting.

As asked by King-Father, Kong Som Ol, the palace minister filed a lawsuit on behalf of King-Father against Sralanh Khmer, an opposition newspaper, following the publication of an article which he found insulting towards him and towards Queen-Mother. “Samdech vice-Prime minister and minister of the royal palace had filed a lawsuit against the newspaper which published slanders towards King-Father,” Ke Kimse indicated in a email sent to the US radio Voice of America. The filing of the lawsuit was confirmed by Ke Sakhorn, the vice-president of the municipal court, but Ouk Savuth, the chief prosecutor of the court declined to discuss the charges brought on the newspaper.

On 16 March, Sralanh Khmer published an article describing the content of a book in which its author was sharply criticizing King-Father and Queen-Mother.

“A long article of the Sralanh Khmer newspaper (March 16, 2007 edition) is attacking me with horrible and very contemptuous, and insulting slanders which distort the History of our Country as well as destroying very unjustly my honor and that the Khmer Monarchy of the 20th and 21st centuries. I had never been an assassin, a corrupt [person], a man owning the smallest fortune, a traitor,” Norodom Sihanouk wrote in an email in which he asked Kong Som Ol to file the lawsuit. In that same email, King-Father indicated that Queen-Mother would also ask that a lawsuit be filed on her behalf also.

Following that email, the Minister of Information asked the newspaper to publish “clarifications” written by family members of King-Father’s in-law, but it was in vain. “King-Father has the right to sue because the accusations made against him are serious,” Khieu Kanharith commented.

Thach Ket, the editor of the newspaper, declined to comment yesterday, claiming that he was not yet informed about the lawsuit. Earlier, he assured that he has no intention of slandering King-Father, he explained that he simply wanted to inform King-Father about the writings referring him.