Democracy News

Increase in Cambodian Court Cases Against Critics and Opponents
By Keona Padgett
July 22, 2009 | Printer Friendly

Reporting for The New York Times on July 20, Seth Mydans writes that in the Cambodian court system there has been a recent increase in cases of defamation, disinformation, and incitement brought by Prime Minister Hun Sen and the government.  This development has been part of what some have identified as "a broad assault on civil liberties" in the country.  According to Human Rights Watch, at least nine lawsuits have been filed against critics and opponents of the government.  In a statement made in June, the United Nations human rights office in Cambodia said that “the surge in lawsuits amounts to ‘a serious threat to democratic development, which may undermine the efforts of the past 16 years to rebuild a tolerant and pluralistic environment in Cambodia.’”  In a similar statement, Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch, said that the “‘Cambodian government is imposing its most serious crackdown on freedom of expression in recent years.  Once again, Hun Sen is showing his true stripes by harassing and threatening to imprison peaceful critics of his increasingly authoritarian government.’”

Some of the most recent cases include the following: the National Assembly removed parliamentary immunity from two members of the opposition party SRP and Hun Sen sued them for libel; Hang Chakra, the owner of an opposition newspaper, was sentenced to one year in prison for disinformation on June 26; less than a month later, Dam Sith, the owner of another opposition newspaper, closed the paper to avoid similar criminal actions for criticizing the government; on July 14, Moeung Sonn, the president of a nonprofit organization, was sentenced to two years in prison for disinformation; a political activist was convicted of defamation and jailed for spray-painting slogans that were critical of the Cambodian government on the walls of his house.

Theary C. Seng, a leader of the human rights group Center for Social Development, said that “‘the court has always been used as a political tool.  But recently, there is a concentration of cases which seem to be very political and which seem to use the court as a political tool to silence opposition voices.’”  According to Mydans, Seng is currently being challenged in a “politically motivated court case.”  (See ISC/CD Press Release referring to Ms. Seng’s participation in the Lisbon Ministerial and her case in Cambodia)

Earlier this month, Hun Sen claimed that he was “acting in the interests of democracy by stripping the two lawmakers of their parliamentary immunity so they could face prosecution in the courts.  ‘From now on we are strengthening democracy and the rule of law.  This is not an anarchic democracy.  Democracy must have the rule of law.’”

Some fear that Cambodia may be looking toward China as a model rather than strengthening its democracy, as the Prime Minister has claimed.  According to Mydans, China has become a major donor and investor in Cambodia and places less demands on the country for this assistance than some Western nations.  Ou Virak, the president of the Cambodian Center for Human Rights, shares this fear.  “‘We have been fearing all along that Cambodia’s government is looking eastward toward China and Vietnam as models,’ with their strong central governments and intolerance of dissent.  ‘Now there are a lot of activities recently that confirm our fear, and so it’s pretty scary.’”

According to Human Rights Watch, the lawsuits have “effectively muzzled opposition voices.”  Adams agrees: “‘The space for opposition media and peaceful dissent is rapidly shrinking in Cambodia, especially now with the closure of one of Cambodia's last remaining opposition newspapers.  Cambodia's laws criminalizing peaceful speech should be repealed so that Hun Sen and other officials can no longer threaten journalists with jail for practicing their profession.’”

References:

Cambodia Court Cases Mount against Opposition

Human Rights Watch: Cambodia: End Assault on Opposition, Critics