At the beginning of this year there were hopes for more freedom of expression and the improvement of democracy in Cambodia. Prime Minister Hun Sen had dropped his defamation lawsuits against human activists whom he had arrested in 2005, pardoned two opposition parliamentarians whom he had had convicted in the same year, and had removed the penalty of imprisonment for defamation.
These hopes were dashed this September. Hun Sen and his government have launched a new barrage of threats, criminal charges and other sanctions aimed at silencing government critics.
On September 17 Hun Sen reacted violently to calls for the formation of an “alliance of patriots” and handing over of power to retired King Norodom Sihanouk.
The call for an alliance had been made on September 9 and repeated three days later by Prince Norodom Ranariddh, leader of the FUNCINPEC party–Hun Sen’s coalition partner. Ranariddh urged the opposition Sam Rainsy Party to enter the ruling alliance, dismissing the prospect that it could defeat Hun Sen. Ranariddh also criticised the Hun Sen government on other issues.
In response, Hun Sen accused Ranariddh of treachery and sacked four FUNCINPEC ministers. He said that he would work only with Nhiek Bun Chhay, FUNCINPEC secretary-general and a deputy prime minister, and urged him to propose replacements for the others, bypassing Ranariddh completely. The next day he sacked some more pro-Ranariddh senior officials and replaced them with Nhiek Bun Chhay’s followers. On September 19 senior FUNCINPEC officials compelled a radio station that had broadcast Ranariddh’s speeches to shut down its political programme.
The call for handing over of power was made on September 14 by Prince Sisowath Thomico, nephew of former King Norodom Sihanouk and founding leader of a new political party. He was one of the people against whom Hun Sen had filed a defamation lawsuit in 2005 for criticisms of his border agreement with Vietnam, but had escaped arrest. Thomico called for the broadening of the Ranariddh-proposed “alliance of patriots” to include all fringe parties. He urged FUNCINPEC and the Sam Rainsy Party, with their combined 50 seats in the National Assembly, to unite and persuade 14 MPs from the ruling party to make up 64 seats, sufficient to form a majority of the 123 seats with which to return power to Sihanouk.
Hun Sen accused Thomico of preparing “a constitutional coup” and warned him: “prepare your coffin if you want to dissolve the National Assembly”. Hun Sen also urged Sihanouk to make sure that Thomico was not on his payroll any more, since it is supported by the national budget.
Journalists, publishers and others have also been made the targets of new legal attacks.
On September 15 the municipal court of Phnom Penh convicted two persons in absentia for disinformation and defamation. Dum Sith, editor-in-chief of Moneaksekar Khmer newspaper was convicted following his publication of an article exposing Deputy Prime Minister Sok An’s involvement in corruption. The court fined Dum Sith eight million Riel (USD 2000) and ordered him to pay ten million Riel (USD 2500) in damages to the government or go to jail. Dum Sith did not have a fair trial and there was no evidence beyond reasonable doubt with which to convict him. The same trial judge convicted the former king’s official biographer, Julio Jeldres, for defamation of the prime minister. Jeldres, an Australian citizen, was likewise fined eight million Riel and ordered to pay ten million Riel to Hun Sen after the publication of a remark sent in an email to friends that, “As you know, every time Prime Minister Hun Sen makes a threat, someone gets killed or wounded by unknown gangsters.” Jeldres rejected the verdict and maintained his assertion that Hun Sen is “a violent leader”.
On September 13 Hek Samnang, 46, Thach Ngock Suern, 41, and Try Non, 44 , all ethnic Cambodians from Vietnam, were arrested and charged with disinformation and defamation for having disseminated leaflets critical of Hun Sen, charging him of involvement in corruption and land grabbing. These leaflets were scattered in rural areas and in Phnom Penh. One held him responsible for the July 2006 death of Ta Mok, one of two senior Khmer Rouge leaders who had been awaiting trial on charges of genocide.
Similarly, on August 22, Teang Narith, a law and politics lecturer at Sihanouk Raj Buddhist University in Phnom Penh, was dismissed and on September 4 arrested and charged with disinformation for writing a book critical of government policy. He faces a possible three-year jail term and fine of up to ten million Riel.
It is well known that Cambodian courts, like the police, are under executive control. Both institutions diligently and promptly arrest and convict government critics on flimsy evidence. By contrast, they dismiss complaints against bans on public demonstrations and defamation complaints by opposition parliamentarians. For instance, in October 2005 a defamation complaint brought by opposition party leader Sam Rainsy against academic union members who campaigned viciously on behalf of the ruling party against him was dismissed without proper investigation.
None of the persons accused of wrongdoing in recent weeks has in fact done anything other than exercise their constitutional right to free expression. As a result, people have lost their jobs, lives have been threatened and law suits begun and completed. None of this does anything for democracy, human rights and the rule of law in Cambodia. On the contrary, it serves the express purpose of deepening the fear under which people there have been forced to live for an unnecessarily long time.
The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) urges the prime minister of Cambodia and his government to honour their human rights obligations under the Paris Peace Accords of 1991 that put an end to the war in Cambodia, respect the right to freedom of expression, and stop resorting to threats, intimidation, dismissals and criminal charges in order to silence critics. The authorities must also allow people the right to organise peaceful demonstrations, so that they will not have to resort to methods such as secretly disseminating leaflets. The AHRC also urges donor governments, UN agencies, international aid agencies and the international human rights community to work harder to impress upon the Cambodian government the need to ensure respect for the constitutional rights of the Cambodian people, especially the precious rights to freedom of expression and assembly.
