Phnom
Penh (July 16, 2012) – The undersigned organizations are deeply disturbed
by independent radio station director Mam Sonando’s arrest on
Sunday, July 15, 2012, and call for his immediate release. Mr. Sonando, who
holds both Cambodian and French citizenship, is the owner of Beehive Radio,
which is among the few independent radio stations in Cambodia. Sonando is also
the founder and president of the Democrat Association.
On
June 25, 2012, Beehive broadcast a report on the International Criminal Court’s
(ICC) June 22 receipt of a lawsuit against the Cambodian government in relation
to crimes against humanity. The broadcast included interviews and discussed the
lawsuit, which was submitted by government critic Sourn Serey Ratha’s Khmer
People Power Movement. The Beehive report was done by Sonando, who had covered
the event at the ICC as a journalist.
Twenty-four
hours after the Beehive report first aired, the Prime Minister publicly called
for Sonando’s arrest during a speech in Phnom Penh which was broadcast on
national television. The Prime Minister accused Sonando of inciting a
secessionist movement in Kratie province. By July 2, Kratie investigating judge
Chok Nguon had issued an arrest warrant accusing Sonando of crimes related to
participating in an “insurrectionary movement,” inciting people to take up arms
against the state, and obstruction of public officials.
Sonando
was out of the country when the arrest warrant was issued. He returned to Phnom
Penh on July 12 at about 10:15 pm, during the unfolding ASEAN summit. His
arrest three days later came barely 24 hours after foreign ministers and diplomats
from around the world departed the city, including United States Secretary of
State Hillary Clinton and the High Representative of the European Union for
Foreign Affairs, Catherine Ashton.
This
morning, Sonando was brought before Phnom Penh Municipal Court Judge Sem Sakola
for questioning. At about noon, Sonanda was charged under articles 28, 456,
457, 464, 504, and 609 of the Penal Code. The charges all carry significant
prison sentences. A conviction under article 464 alone could be punishable by
fifteen to thirty years imprisonment. Mr. Sonando is 70 years old.
Despite
the fact that Sonando returned to Cambodia to face these unfounded accusations,
he was placed in pre-trial detention this afternoon in Phnom Penh’s CC1 prison.
The
government has attempted to link the charges against Sonando to an ongoing land
dispute and violent forced eviction in Kratie province. On May 16, 2012,
hundreds of soldiers, military police and local police, aided by a helicopter,
stormed a village in Kratie’s Kampong Domrey commune. The village had been
embroiled in an ongoing land dispute with a well-connected private company over
a large rubber concession. The government claimed that the military operation,
which resulted in the death of a 14-year-old girl, was necessary to stop the
villagers from carrying out a plan to secede from Cambodia. At the time, many
criticized this justification – none of the armed forces were injured, and
there is no evidence that the villagers had any intent or plans to undertake a
secessionist movement. Some of the villagers in the area had, however,
previously joined the Democrat Association.
“Linking
Mam Sonando to this ‘secession movement’ story is nothing more than a
transparent attempt to attack one of the few independent radio stations in the
Kingdom,” said Vorn Pao, President of IDEA. “If Beehive Radio is shut down,
critical voices will be silenced months prior to Cambodia’s next national
election – at a time when they are needed more than ever.”
In
his June 25 speech, the Prime Minister also revealed that some of the Kratie
villagers accused of having taken part in the alleged secession movement had
“confessed” and implicated Sonando. The Prime Minister then stated that other
accused individuals still sought by the court in Kratie would be forgiven if
they too came forward to incriminate Sonando.
This
is not the first time Sonando has been targeted by the government. On January
31, 2003, months before Cambodia’s third national election, the Phnom Penh
Municipal Court charged Sonando with announcing false information, inciting
people to discriminate, and inciting people to commit crimes. That time, he was
released after 2 weeks detention. Sonando was arrested again on October 11,
2005, and eventually charged with defamation, incitement, and broadcasting
false information, for having broadcast an interview with an independent expert
on politically sensitive issues. That time, he was imprisoned for three months
before being released on bail in January 2006 following intense international
pressure and a coincidental visit by United States Assistant Secretary of State
for East Asia, Christopher Hill.
“There
is no room for criminal prosecution of critical speech in a democracy,” said
Yeng Virak, director of Community Legal Education Center, who was imprisoned
alongside Sonando for several weeks in 2005. “Unless journalists and media
owners are confident that their freedom of expression will be protected, a
country’s democracy simply cannot function legitimately.”
We,
the undersigned, call on the government to release Mam Sonando immediately and
ensure that he is afforded all fair trial and due process rights as guaranteed
in Cambodia’s Constitution, Code of Criminal Procedure, and international
treaty obligations.
Cambodian
Center for Independent Media (CCIM)
Cambodia's
Civil Servants Association (CICA)
Cambodian
Food and Service Worker Federation (CFSWF)
Cambodian
Human Rights & Development Association (ADHOC)
Cambodian
League for the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights (LICADHO)
Cambodian
Worker Center for Development (CWCD)
Cambodian
Youth Network (CYN)
Coalition
of Cambodian Farmer Community (CCFC)
Community
Legal Education Center (CLEC)
Community
Peacbuilding Network (CPN)
Independent
Democracy of Informal Economy Association (IDEA)
People’s
Action for Change (PAC)
SahmakumTeangTnaut
(STT)
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