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Parties Spar, But Who Knows Who’s in Vogue?
A year from commune elections that will give the first glimpse of voting trends since the disputed July 2013 national election, Prime Minister Hun Sen and opposition leader Sam Rainsy have this week been keen to paint each other as already forsaken by the electorate. “The people no longer believe in empty persuasions and promises,” Mr. Hun Sen wrote on Facebook on Tuesday, arguing that people were coming to realize the CNRP had “no historical achievements for the nation and the people”—except for scandals.
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CNRP to Defy Summons
Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) Chairman Om Yentieng upped the ante on the government’s dispute with civil society yesterday, saying more people, in addition to the six already charged, will face arrest in connection to the sex scandal surrounding opposition party acting president Kem Sokha and his alleged mistress Khom Chandaraty. Yet Mr. Sokha, who was ordered to appear in court himself, said in a statement yesterday that he and other Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) lawmakers would ignore any summons issued to them on the grounds that all members of parliament are guaranteed judicial immunity. Mr. Sokha is being sued by opposition activist Thy Sovantha for defamation relating to private audio recordings posted to Facebook allegedly featuring Mr. Sokha and Ms. Chandaraty. On the recordings, he intimates that Ms. Sovantha was only using the CNRP to make herself famous and secure funding from overseas opposition party members.
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Prince made new head of ‘civilised royalists’
Sisowath Chakreynupol, a prince from one of Cambodia’s royal families, has taken over the reins of the Cambodian Liberty Party, a recently started micro-party. Chakreynupol officially took over yesterday, almost two months after former leader and ex-CPP member Chea Chamroeun resigned shortly after founding the party.
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Kem Sokha, two fellow CNRP lawmakers reject summons
CNRP acting president Kem Sokha and two fellow lawmakers have declared that they will refuse to comply with a summons to appear in court in relation to the alleged Sokha sex scandal. Following a meeting of CNRP representatives in the capital yesterday, Sokha and CNRP lawmakers Tok Vanchan and Pin Ratana released a statement saying they had protection under Article 80 of the constitution, which grants lawmakers immunity and entitles them to ignore the summons.
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Activists request to march on ACU HQ
Land rights activists from 10 communities in the capital yesterday submitted a request to City Hall requesting permission to march to the Anti-Corruption Unit’s headquarters and deliver a petition in support of human rights activists jailed this week. It’s a request that will be rejected, a city official told the Post.
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CNRP to Ignore Court Summonses
The CNRP said on Wednesday that its lawmakers would not be heeding summonses for questioning over a party leader’s sex scandal, while the man spearheading the government’s investigation, corruption czar Om Yentieng, defended the probe on national television and warned of more arrests.
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Workers Protest Unionist Firings in Kandal
Almost 1,000 workers from the New Archid Garment Factory in Kandal province’s Angsnoul district protested yesterday against the firing of three employees who tried to start a union. The protesters played loud music and danced outside the factory throughout the day.
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Photographers Barred From Entering the Phnom Penh Court
Photographers and video camera operators have been barred from entering the Phnom Penh Municipal Court compound in a move that one official said was intended to stop journalists from leveling unfair accusations at the institution.
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Kandal factory workers protest representatives’ firings
Nearly 500 New Archid factory workers in Kandal province protested for the second day in a row yesterday, demanding the company reinstate three worker representatives they claim were fired without cause – along with pay increases Chem Somphose, Vay Vanny and Eng Sovann were last week terminated by New Archid. Soy Chanthou, a union organiser with the Cambodian Industrial Union, said that the fired workers may have been dismissed because they had taken it upon themselves to represent the other workers’ interests.
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CNRP ready to negotiate over political crisis
Besieged by a growing raft of legal cases widely believed politically motivated, the opposition Cambodian National Rescue Party will seek a solution to Cambodia’s escalating political crisis through negotiations, its spokesman said yesterday. CNRP lawmaker Yim Sovann said acting party president Kem Sokha wanted to arrange talks with the ruling Cambodian People’s Party, which critics say is using an alleged sex scandal involving Sokha to target opposition and civil society members with legally dubious charges.
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Gov’t touts free press record
The Ministry of Information yesterday trumpeted Cambodia’s free press credentials during an event for World Press Freedom Day yesterday, though a political observer being sued over remarks he made on radio said the situation for freedom of expression was still grim. Information Minister Khieu Kanharith lauded Cambodia’s top spot among ASEAN nations in Reporters Without Borders’ annual World Press Freedom Index, although globally the Kingdom ranks 128 out of 180.
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Justice minister wants Battambang land dispute resolved
Minister of Justice Ang Vong Vattana has weighed in on a prolonged land dispute at the Battambang Provincial Court that has seen three protestors shot and another imprisoned. The dispute between Suon Mean Sambath Company and 135 families in Sampov Loun district, where 600 hectares of farming and residential land remain affected, was sparked by an economic land concession granted in 2011.
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Kem Sokha Summoned Over Lawsuit In Sex Scandal
After weeks of summoning, questioning and arresting an unlikely ensemble of people linked to a sex scandal involving CNRP Vice President Kem Sokha, the Phnom Penh Municipal Court yesterday made its first direct move against the deputy opposition leader, calling him to appear over a defamation complaint. Two other CNRP lawmakers were also summoned as “suspects” in a widely criticized case that has now seen an opposition commune chief, four human rights workers and an election official jailed.
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Fake IDs prompt call for NSSF re-registry
The Ministry of Labour on Monday said it will require private institutions, such as factories, to re-register for health insurance under the expansion of the National Social Security Fund (NSSF) due to challenges stemming from workers using someone else’s identification cards and providing incorrect information. The ministry, in a statement, said it noticed problems with workers “borrowing” the identity card of someone else; providing the wrong name and gender; and specifying the incorrect place of birth and age.
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Prisons Filling With Critics of Ruling Party
It’s not a good time to be a critic of Cambodia’s government. Over the past year alone, more than 20 have been jailed, and the list of those behind bars runs the gamut from lawmakers and Facebook users to rights monitors and a senior elections official. In an apparent scorched-earth campaign against those who have bothered Prime Minister Hun Sen over his 31 years in power—or who could disturb his plans to remain there after the 2018 national election—authorities have even laid charges against a U.N. official.
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Information Law a Step Closer
The information minister announced yesterday that the government is one step closer to establishing an access to information law, in response to demands for a more transparent and responsive government. Minister Khieu Kanharith made the comments during the World Press Freedom Day celebration, which was held under the theme of “Access of Information is Your Right.” He said the government has been collaborating with UNESCO agencies and civil society groups to set up the law, with support from the Swedish government. The law focusses on the right to receive and impart information to the public.
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Kem Sokha summonsed over Sovantha suit
Two months after the anonymous release of taped phone conversations purportedly between acting CNRP president Kem Sokha and an alleged mistress, the deputy opposition leader has been summonsed to appear at the Phnom Penh Municipal Court, along with two other CNRP lawmakers. Deputy prosecutor for the case Keo Socheat yesterday confirmed a summons for May 11 had been issued in relation to a $1 million defamation case brought by social media celebrity Thy Sovantha but declined to answer further questions.
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Gov't ‘can tap anyone's phone’, says ACU chief
Since the first covertly recorded tapes purportedly featuring opposition leader Kem Sokha talking to an alleged mistress emerged, questions have persisted about whether the CNRP acting president’s phone had been tapped. Yesterday, a lawyer, acting for one of six charged with allegedly bribing 24-year-old Khom Chandaraty to stay quiet about the affair, lent credence to those concerns, alleging those investigating the case had obtained recordings that could only have been made through wiretapping, while a government spokesman said Sokha was being “monitored”.
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NEC Decides Not to Seek Bail for Its Deputy in Bribery Case
The National Election Committee (NEC) decided yesterday that it would not attempt to intervene on behalf of its deputy secretary-general, Ny Chakrya, who was jailed on bribery charges on Monday in connection with the government’s probe of a sex scandal involving opposition leader Kem Sokha. Mr. Chakrya was charged by the Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Monday along with a U.N. staffer and four senior officers from local rights group Adhoc for allegedly conspiring to pay Mr. Sokha’s supposed mistress to lie to authorities about the affair.
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Rights workers, two others ‘bribed witness’, court says; UN holds firm
The Phnom Penh Municipal Court yesterday sent four Adhoc staffers to Prey Sar prison and an election official to Phnom Penh’s PJ correctional facility after charging them with bribing a witness in the scandal surrounding CNRP acting president Kem Sokha and an alleged mistress. The four Adhoc staffers – Ny Sokha, Yi Soksan, Nay Vanda and Lem Mony – were charged by investigating judge Theam Chanpiseth for bribing a witness under Article 548 of the Criminal Code. Ny Chakrya, a former Adhoc official and National Election Committee deputy secretary-general, and Sally Soen, an employee with the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), were charged as accomplices under articles 29 and 548.
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