Jailed Senator Testifies at Rainsy Facebook Post Trial

Imprisoned opposition Senator Hong Sok Hour, allowed to testify in civilian clothes, is led to the Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Friday to be a witness in a case against CNRP President Sam Rainsy. (Siv Channa/The Cambodia Daily)

by Khy Sovuthy | December 10, 2016

An imprisoned opposition senator testified on Friday at the trial of opposition leader Sam Rainsy and two assistants that he had not contacted Mr. Rainsy before posting a video of a false border treaty onto the exiled CNRP president’s Facebook page.

The three defendants, all currently in France, were charged as accomplices in crimes committed by opposition Senator Hong Sok Hour when he posted the document—said to contain a key mistranslation of a 1979 treaty between Cambodia and Vietnam—last year.

Cambodia: Dissident group claims members being hunted

Khmer National Liberation Front says members sought by both Thai and Cambodian police in Bangkok, fear for their safety

PHNOM PENH

The leader of an outlawed Cambodian nationalist group has claimed that its members are being hunted by both Thai and Cambodian police in Bangkok, and that they are now on the run and fear for their safety.

Sam Serey, exiled founder of the outlawed Khmer National Liberation Front (KNLF), wrote in an email to Anadolu Agency late Tuesday that he is “seriously concerned about the safety of KNLF members in Thailand”.

The KNLF, which was established in 2012, considers Cambodia to be a neo-colonial puppet, with its neighbor, Vietnam holding the strings. 

Cambodia investigating coup declaration against PM

Video posted online shows man declaring coup d’etat before listing 30 years of alleged human rights abuses by Hun Sen

World Bulletin / News Desk

Cambodian police say they are investigating the declaration of a coup against the government of Prime Minister Hun Sen, but have laughed off any suggestion of the threat being serious.

A video posted to YouTube and the Facebook page of a Vichea Som on Sunday showed a man sitting in front of a camouflage-print banner declaring a coup d’etat before listing numerous alleged human rights abuses by Hun Sen over the course of his more than 30 years in power.

KNLF ‘plotters’ sentenced

Members of the Khmer National Liberation Front were sentenced to between five and nine years in jail at Phnom Penh’s Municipal Court yesterday, for ‘plotting’ to commit an attack. Hong Menea

Thu, 8 December 2016 Niem Chheng

The Phnom Penh Municipal Court yesterday sentenced Sam Serey, the Denmark-based leader of the anti-government Khmer National Liberation Front, and 10 other accused members of his group to between five and nine years in jail for “plotting” to commit an attack.

The 10 besides Serey were arrested in October 2014 over a protest they planned in front of the Vietnamese Embassy to demand respect for the 1991 Paris Peace Accords. All have denied “plotting” anything.

Prime Minister’s formula put to test

Sam Rainsy, left, and Prime Minister Hun Sen pose for photos after meeting at the National Assembly in 2014. Heng Chivoan

Fri, 9 December 2016

Alex Willemyns

For the many who have pinned their hopes on Sam Rainsy and Kem Sokha’s Cambodia National Rescue Party, it would be a crushing blow for the delicate alliance to have come so far only to split now.

Yet less than six months from the June 4 commune elections – the most important test yet of the nearly five-year-old experiment in placing the downfall of Prime Minister Hun Sen ahead of competing egos – the still-maturing marriage of convenience has never been so openly fractious.
From Sokha’s open rebuke of Rainsy’s refusal to leave the safety of Europe, to Rainsy’s obvious displeasure in giving up the title of parliamentary “minority leader” for Sokha, never before have the deep personal differences in the CNRP appeared so at risk of blowing up. (Last month, Sokha’s daughter even publicly taunted Rainsy as “Peter Pan” for his perceived childishness.)

Sok Hour revisited Rainsy, Facebook admins’ case to be heard

Hong Sok Hour arrives at the Supreme Court in Phnom Penh earlier this year. Pha Lina

Fri, 9 December 2016

Touch Sokha

The Phnom Penh Municipal Court today is set to hear the cases of CNRP president Sam Rainsy and two of his Facebook administrators, who stand accused as “accomplices” in the forgery and incitement case that saw opposition Senator Hong Sok Hour sentenced to seven years.

Sok Hour was convicted over comments in which he said a copy of a 1979 treaty showed the government offering to “dissolve” its border with Vietnam. The government accused him of forgery and incitement, saying the real document used the word “redefine”.

Rainsy and admins Sambath Satya, 25, and Chong Leang Ueng, 20, were named as co-conspirators because the remarks were posted on Rainsy’s Facebook page. The two admins have reportedly received asylum in France.

On Facebook yesterday, Rainsy denied involvement, and called Sok Hour’s conviction “ridiculous”, saying the offending document was simply a mistranslation.

CNRP spokesman Yim Sovann said yesterday the party hoped to negotiate Rainsy’s outstanding cases. But the CPP’s Sok Eysan said Rainsy’s case was “very tough”, calling him a “dishonest dialogue partner”.

Contact author: Touch Sokha

Mondulkiri court questions Dutch man over abuse

Nguyen Tangdun was arrested in Ho Chi Minh city on Wednesday night for allegedly abusing a young boy. Photo supplied.

Fri, 9 December 2016 Mech Dara

Prosecutors in Mondulkiri province yesterday began questioning the Dutch boyfriend of Nguyen Tangdung, a Vietnamese national accused of videoing himself torturing a young boy.

Stefan Struik, 53, was arrested in Kampong Cham province on Tuesday shortly after Tangdung fled to Vietnam, and has since been held by police in Mondulkiri. Provincial court spokesman Meas Bros said prosecutors had begun questioning Struik but had returned him to police custody in the evening.
Prosecutor San Sopheak said he had not settled on a charge for Struik, but expected to decide today. “Tomorrow we will know about that, but at this stage we don’t know yet,” Sopheak said.

Tangdung continues to be held by Vietnamese authorities in Saigon, where he was apprehended by plainclothes detectives on Wednesday. Justice Ministry spokesman Chin Malin said he was unaware of what progress had been made in talks for Tangdung to return and face justice.
Child Protection Unit director James McCabe said the abused boy and his family had been sent to a Phnom Penh hospital for a check-up yesterday, and that all were in good health.

Contact author: Mech Dara

Opposition Leader, Pardoned, Speaks of Shared Vision With Hun Sen

On December 2, King Sihamoni issued a decree pardoning Sokha, who was sentenced to five months in prison for missing a court appearance earlier in the year.

 PHNOM PENH —

Kem Sokha, the deputy leader of the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party, who was granted amnesty by King Norodom Sihamoni late last week on the request of Prime Minister Hun Sen, has said that he shares the same vision of a united Cambodia as his adversary.

On December 2, King Sihamoni issued a decree pardoning Sokha, who was sentenced to five months in prison for missing a court appearance earlier in the year.

Two days later, at a party meeting, Sokha said the pardon had been granted without condition and no deal had been struck.

Harsh Regime of Child Labor, Debt Bondage Exposed in Cambodian Brick Factories

PHNOM PENH — The use of debt bondage to retain workers in “contemporary forms of slavery” and child labor is widespread in Cambodia’s brick factories and authorities are making no efforts to eradicate the crimes, according to a new report by rights group Licadho.

On Friday December 2, the International Day for the Abolition of Slavery, Licadho published the report “Built on Slavery: Debt Bondage and Child Labor in Cambodia’s Brick Factories”.

The report was based on a study of Cambodia’s main brick production center to the north of Phnom Penh, Kandal and Tbong Khmom provinces. Eleven sites were identified, containing over 100 factories that employed thousands of workers. Around 50 workers, including adults and children, were interviewed between June and August 2016.

Child Torture Videos Lead to Three Arrests

Stefan Struik, left, and a man he identifies as his boyfriend, Nguyen Dung, appear in a video posted to YouTube in January. Mr. Struik was arrested along with two Cambodians on Tuesday, while Mr. Nguyen is believed to have fled to Vietnam, according to police.

by Phan Soumy | December 7, 2016

A Dutch national and two Cambodians were taken into police custody in Kompong Cham province on Tuesday over videos circulated on Facebook showing the physical abuse of a naked toddler, including torture with an electric prod, officials said.
Deputy Kompong Cham police chief Heng Sambath said the men were suspected of involvement in the torture and rape of a child. He said the Cambodians—Ret Sothy, 28, and Oeu Nat, 25—worked for the Dutch man, who owns a plantation in Mondolkiri province.

KNLF Suspects Sing CPP’s Praises in Court

Defendants on trial over a 2014 incitement case leave Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Monday. (Siv Channa/The Cambodia Daily)

by Ouch Sony | November 1, 2016 | អានជាភាសាខ្មែរ

Ten members of a government-branded terrorist group, Khmer National Liberation Front (KNLF), who are on trial for incitement, renounced their affiliations and praised the government on Monday, crediting a jailed former ambassador to South Korea for their change of heart.
The men were arrested in October 2014 and accused of planning to “incite and cause violence in Phnom Penh,” though KNLF president Sam Serey claimed they were merely planning a peaceful demonstration in front of the Vietnamese Embassy.

CPP Praise Doesn’t Save KNLF Members From Guilty Verdict

by Ouch Sony | December 7, 2016 | អានជាភាសាខ្មែរ

Eleven members of the government-branded terrorist group Khmer National Liberation Front were handed five- to nine-year jail sentences on Wednesday morning over 2014 plotting charges, even after most renounced their ties to the group in court.

The men were arrested in October 2014 over plans for what they said would be a peaceful demonstration in front of the Vietnamese Embassy, but authorities claimed the protest was intended to sow violence and disorder.

Witness Says Khmer Rouge Forced Her to Have Abortion

by George Wright | November 29, 2016

A former Khmer Rouge ministry official told the Khmer Rouge tribunal on Monday that she was forced to have an abortion after her husband was purged from the party.
Boeth Boeun was testifying in a segment focusing on the roles of the accused—the Khmer Rouge’s second-in-command Nuon Chea and head of state Khieu Samphan—in the crimes committed during the Democratic Kampuchea era.

Threat to Expel U.N. Human Rights Office Riles Cambodia

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen (L) shakes hands with new Foreign Minister Prak Sokhon (R) during a handover ceremony at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Phnom Penh, April 5, 2016

Kicking the U.N. Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights out of Cambodia is raising worries among the country’s citizens that they will have no place to turn if the rights watchdog no longer has a place in the country.

“Cambodia will be a more authoritarian country without the U.N. office,” a rickshaw driver named Chhun Oeun told RFA’s Khmer Service. “Even now, with the U.N. office here, several human rights activists have been arrested, beaten, and jailed. I cannot imagine how much worse the situation will be if there is no such office.”

Am Sam Ath, a technical coordinator for human rights group Licadho, told RFA that closing the Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights (OHCHR) in Cambodia would be a loss for the entire nation as it will lose foreign aid and international respect.

Plans Floated For $100M Underwater Aquarium

by Kang Sothear | November 28, 2016

The government wants to build a $100 million underwater aquarium along one of the country’s major rivers and is looking to Japan to foot the bill as part of efforts to protect the environment and attract tourists, according to senior officials.

In a post to his Facebook page on Friday, Prime Minister Hun Sen announced the plans, which he said were discussed during a meeting in his office building with Takahashi Fumiaki, president of the Japan-Cambodia Association, and Yamada Sohiko, an architect and potential developer.

Foreign minister's ‘bullying’ of UN office decried

Wan-Hea Lee, country representative of the UN Office for the High Commissioner for Human Rights, speaks during a press conference in Phnom Penh last month. Hong Menea

Mon, 28 November 2016

Jack Davies

Observers yesterday characterised a threat by Foreign Minister Prak Sokhon to close the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) field office in Cambodia as a dangerous act of brinkmanship, with many calling for donors to take a stand.

OHCHR’s memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the government expired last December. Since then, the government has been demanding a controversial rewording of the memorandum placing an emphasis on what it views as an established diplomatic doctrine of non-interference.
Earlier this month, in response to remarks by OHCHR country representative Wan-Hea Lee reported in the media, Sokhon issued a letter saying the human rights office’s activities were “not legitimate” while the MoU was expired.

Hun Sen Says New Border Map Will Be ‘Accurate’

by Kang Sothear | November 28, 2016

Prime Minister Hun Sen took to Facebook on Friday and Saturday to explain why Cambodia was asking France to draw up a bigger version of the colonial-era map the government is constitutionally bound to use to demarcate its disputed border with Vietnam, saying the new map will be more accurate.

Mr. Hun Sen used his busy Facebook page last week to announce that Cambodia and Vietnam had just agreed to ask France to turn the so-called Bonne map mandated in the Constitution—drawn at a scale of 1:100,000—into a bigger version at a scale of 1:50,000.

Fugitive Was Working With Australian Police by Janelle Retka | November 21, 2016

A Cambodian police officer takes a selfie, later released online, with Guido Eglitis, center, after he was arrested in Siem Reap province on October 24, 2015.

An Australian fugitive who recently finished a year-long prison sentence in Siem Reap province for stealing a passport and camera while posing as an Interpol agent was working at the behest of an Australian police detective, emails show.

Guido Eglitis, 69, a private investigator who went by the alias James An, was arrested and charged with robbing British national David Scotcher, then the director of Learn4Life school, in October of last year.

Australian Founder of Surrogacy Firm Arrested After Ban

by Phan Soumy | November 21, 2016

Less than a month after a ban was announced on surrogate pregnancies, an Australian and Cambodian nurse and Commerce Ministry official were arrested by anti-human trafficking police in Phnom Penh on Friday evening for operating a surrogacy clinic, officials said on Sunday.

Keo Thea, chief of the city’s anti-human trafficking bureau, said that Australian national Tammy Davis-Charles, 49, who is listed as director of the Fertility Solutions PGD clinic, was detained on Russian Boulevard while she was traveling toward Phnom Penh International Airport after being monitored for 10 months.

Cambodian PM Hun Sen Congratulates Trump on Election Victory

FILE - Prime Minister Hun Sen speaks on Tuesday, September 20, 2016 during the inauguration of first-Japanese private hospital Sunrise in Phnom Penh’s Chroy Changva district. ( Leng Len/VOA Khmer)

In a shock result that contradicted months of polling data and media consensus, Trump will take up residency in the White House with Republican majorities in the Senate and Congress.

PHNOM PENH —  Prime Minister Hun Sen and Cambodia’s senior opposition leader on Wednesday congratulated Donald Trump on winning the US presidential election.

“I would like to congratulate His Excellency Donald Trump for achieving victory in the US presidential election,” he wrote on his Facebook page.