Cambodian PM orders courts to drop all defamation charges against his critics

Tuesday January 24, 2:14 PM
Cambodian PM orders courts to drop all defamation charges against his
critics

PHNOM PENH (AFP) - Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen has ordered the
courts to drop all defamation charges against his critics in an
apparent turnaround amid mounting pressure over a clampdown on dissent.

"I am asking lawyers ... to see in what way we can drop the complaints
so this case will end in an easy way," he told reporters. "For me it is
over."

The surprise move came just two days after the premier said the critics
would face trial, despite being released on bail last week.

Rights leaders Kem Sokha and Pa Nguon Teang of the US-backed Cambodian
Center for Human Rights were arrested along with union boss Rong Chhun
and journalist Mam Sonando in a widely condemned crackdown.

A fifth rights activist, Yeng Virak, was also caught up in the sweep
and several others have fled the country to avoid arrest after
criticising a controversial border pact with Vietnam.

A defamation conviction against opposition party leader Sam Rainsy, who
has fled to France, would not be reviewed, however. He was sentenced in
absentia to 18 months in prison.

In a statement release early Tuesday, Kem Sokha said neither he nor his
deputy Pa Nguon Teang accused Hun Sen of selling land to Vietnam, which
had been the core of the premier's complaint against them.

A banner displayed by Kem Sokha's rights center on Human Rights Day in
December contained handwritten statements from members of the public,
some of which called Hun Sen a traitor who sold out his country in the
border deal with Hanoi.

Border feuds tap into an often virulent anti-Vietnamese sentiment in
Cambodia, fuelled by resentment of Vietnam's expansion over the
centuries.

The rise to power of Cambodia's current government after the genocidal
1975-79 Khmer Rouge regime was backed by communist Vietnam and the two
retain close links.

"We regret the incident ... it was not our aim," the activists'
statement said.

Mam Sonando and Rong Chhun also released statements thanking the
premier for their release on bail and lent their support to the border
agreement, which they said had been approved by democratically-elected
legislature.

Hun Sen said he would welcome similar statements from those critics who
fled abroad, saying he would ask the courts to drop the charges against
them if they apologised.

"I don't want to face off with anybody. I would like to have compromise
rather than conflict."

On Monday an unrepentant Kem Sokha warned the government of growing
tensions if it rejected talks with democracy advocates about freedoms
in Cambodia.

"For us as the victims, the tougher the government, the tougher we will
get. We cannot accept that the government asks us to apologise ...
because we have done nothing wrong," he told a press conference.

International rights groups and foreign governments have demanded the
charges against political critics be dropped, and criticised Hun Sen's
administration for using the courts to crush its opponents.

They have warned the defamation suits were eroding democracy in
Cambodia, where Hun Sen has been the sole ruler since wrestling power
away from his then co-prime minister in a 1997 coup.


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