Tried in absentia, Cambodian journalist immediately arrested, sent to prison

Hang Chakra (Photo: Zakariya, RFA)

28 June 2009
Southeast Asian Press Alliance (SEAPA)

The editor-in-chief of the "The Khmer Machas Srok" newspaper, who had been fined and sentenced to a year's imprisonment, was arrested on the same day by the police and sent to the Prey Sar prison, near Phnom Penh, Cambodia, media reports said.
Hang Chakra was arrested at a rented house in Chamcar Samrong commune in Battambang City and was immediately sent to jail, Radio Free Asia quoted Am Sam Ath, director of investigation for the Licadho human rights group, as saying.
Hang Chakra’s lawyer, Chuong Chou-ngy, said that the sentence handed down by the Phnom Penh municipal court is very unfair for his client because the decision was made in absentia, and neither he nor his client were present during the court decision. Only the judge, the prosecutors and the government lawyer who brought the lawsuit against Hang Chakra were present.
Radio Free Asia quoted Chuon Chou-ngy: "[The court] hastened [the process] to hand out the sentence. Even without the presence of my client [Hang Chankra] and my request to delay the case, they didn’t agree to it."
"The Phnom Penh Post" last week said Hang Chakra was meted out a one-year jail term and fined him 9 million riels ($2,250) on charges of publishing false information and defamation on Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister, Sok An. The charges were based on the UNTAC criminal code rather than the more recent Press Law. Cambodian journalists groups said the former carries harsher penalties, including imprisonment.
Am Sam Ath said: "We can see that [this case] can seriously affect the rights of journalists to express their opinion."
He added that, "The Appeal court must think about Mr. Hang Chakra’s case. The information law should be considered first before the criminal code is used."
The Phnom Penh municipal court and justice ministry officials could not be reached to explain about the legality of this court decision and sentence, Radio Free Asia said.
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The Southeast Asian Press Alliance (http://www.seapa.org) is a coalition of press freedom advocacy groups from Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand. Established in November 1998, it is the only regional network with the specific mandate of promoting and protecting press freedom throughout Southeast Asia. SEAPA is composed of the Alliance of Independent Journalists (Indonesia), the Jakarta-based Institute for the Study of the Free Flow of Information (ISAI), the Manila-based Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility, the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism, and the Thai Journalists Association. SEAPA also has partners in Malaysia, Cambodia, East Timor, and exiled Burmese media, and undertakes projects and programs for press freedom throughout the region.