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Category: ASEAN

Wife of Cambodian opposition supporter mulls compensation to drop murder case

Editor07 mins

The wife of a slain supporter of Cambodia’s Candlelight Party said Tuesday she has rejected a compensation offer of U.S. $7,000 from the alleged assailant in exchange for dropping the criminal case, but has said she would consider accepting a larger sum because she doesn’t have money for her husband’s funeral. Wen Kimyi also urged police to arrest the suspect who shot dead her husband, 49-year-old Po Hin Lean, early in the morning of Oct. 16 while he was on his way to go fishing. She told RFA that police in Ou Reang Ov district of Chak commune in Tbong Khmum province, where her family lives, summoned her to the police station and told her that the suspect offered to pay her if she would drop charges.  The widow said she wants the money, but that her family also wants justice. “The police said there were two suspects, one of whom had the gun that killed him,” Wen Kimyi said. “I didn’t get a chance to see the suspect to ask [the reasons]. I will accept the compensation because I don’t have money for the funeral. But I won’t accept $7,000; I will need $15,000.” Police told her that the suspect is a “security guard” or “neighborhood watchman” for the commune, but declined to disclose where he put the weapon or his motive for the shooting. Cambodia’s Ministry of the Interior established a network of such local guards to provide security to villagers in communes and districts, though they are not supposed to carry weapons.  RFA could not reach Vong Sophy, the police chief of Ou Reang Ov district, or On Sam On, police chief of Chak commune for comment on Tuesday. ‘Embarrassing for the authorities’ Leng Seng Han, a provincial coordinator for the Cambodian Human Rights and Development Association, also known as ADHOC, said the murder cannot be resolved through compensation and that the suspect must be brought to justice. “It is wrong for [police] to be involved in meditation outside the court,” he said.   Eng Sroy, a Police Academy lecturer and president of the Candlelight Party​ working group in Tbong Khmum province, said he is dismayed that authorities have not yet apprehended the suspects and urged them to conduct a transparent investigation to show they are providing good security.  “It is embarrassing for the authorities if they can’t arrest the suspects,” he said. “The authorities must differentiate between black and white and remain neutral during the investigation.”  There have been numerous physical attacks this year on activists and supporters of the Candlelight Party, an opposition party that emerged from the ashes of the opposition Cambodian National Rescue Party (CNRP), which was banned and dissolved by Cambodia’s Supreme Court in November 2017. This April, Candlelight Party candidate Khorn Tun was attacked by unidentified men who threw rocks at her home in Tbong Khmum province during the campaign period for local elections held in June. Prak Seyha, a party youth leader for Phnom Penh’s Kamboul district, was attacked and beaten by a mob. Those incidents followed the death of Phnom Penh Candlelight candidate Choeun Sarim, who was attacked from behind and killed in traffic while riding a motorbike, following threats and assaults. The killing of the man in this case, Po Hin Lean, came a day before Prime Minister Hun Sen threatened to arrest Sam Rainsy, head of the banned CNRP, who has lived in exile in France since 2015, if he returns to Cambodia.  Sam Rainsy, 73, was sentenced in absentia in March 2021 to 25 years in jail for what supporters say was a politically motivated charge of attempting to overthrow the government. Hun Sen, who has ruled Cambodia since 1985, made the comment at a graduation ceremony where he spoke, in response to recent remarks by Sam Rainsy criticizing the strongman’s plans to appoint his son, Hun Manet, as his replacement. Translated by Samean Yun for RFA Khmer. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.

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Cambodia opposition supporter shot as Hun Sen threatens to jail opponent

Editor07 mins

A supporter of Cambodia’s Candlelight Party was shot dead in Tbong Khmum province over the weekend, the latest in a series of attacks on the opposition in a year of local elections and campaigning for 2023 parliamentary voting, his wife and supporters said Monday. Candlelight Party’s vice-chairman Thach Setha told RFA that he could not yet conclude whether the killing Sunday of Po Hin Lean, a 49-year-old father of three, was a political assassination. He urged authorities in the province’s Orang Ov district to conduct a prompt investigation. “A clear investigation must be conducted to catch the perpetrators and bring them to justice, to stop such killing whether it happens to political activists or [ordinary] people,” said Thach Setha. Police chief On Sam On of Chak commune, where Po Hin Lean lived,  refused to provide any details on the case when contacted by RFA Khmer. Orang Ov authorities were not available and provincial police chief Mon Meakara hung up the phone after receiving a call from RFA. “Who shot my husband?” asked Wen Kimyi, the victim’s wife.  “The police officer said the village security guard was the shooter. I said it was not the village security guard who fired, because the village security guard did not have a gun. The policeman said he had a gun, so he did not talk to me further,” she added. This year has seen a rise in violent attacks targeting activists and supporters of the Candlelight Party, an opposition party that emerged this year from the ashes of the Cambodian National Rescue Party (CNRP), which was banned and dissolved by the country’s supreme court in 2017. In April, during campaigning for June local elections, Candlelight Party candidate Khorn Tun was attacked by unidentified men who threw rocks at her home in Tabaung Khmom province, while Prak Seyha — a party youth leader for Phnom Penh’s Kambol district — was attacked and beaten by a mob. Those incidents followed the death of Phnom Penh Candlelight candidate Choeun Sarim, who was attacked from behind and killed in traffic while traveling by motorbike, following threats and assaults. The latest attack came a day before Prime Minister Hun Sen threatened to arrest opposition leader Sam Rainsy, who has lived in exile in France since 2015, the moment he returns to Cambodia. Sam Rainsy, 73, was sentenced in absentia in March 2021  to 25 years in jail for what supporters say was a politically motivated charge of attempting to overthrow the government. Speaking at a graduation ceremony for students at a university in Phnom Penh on October 17. Hun Sun said he would “eliminate the three generations of the ideology of the contemptible traitor [Sam Rainsy]…but I will not kill you.”  Hun Sen, who has ruled Cambodia since 1985, was responding to recent remarks by Sam Rainsy  criticizing the strongman’s plans to appoint his son, Hun Manet, as his replacement. “I believe there will be strong opposition to Hun Sen’s transfer of power to his dynasty. We want a succession of young Cambodians who are capable and accomplished, but we do not want a succession of clans in a family that is above everyone else and that has the right to rule Cambodia forever, ” Sam Rainsy said in a video. Sam Rainsy and other exiled members of the CNRP have tried to return to Cambodia on several occasions.  The acting CNRP leader tried to return on Nov. 9, 2019 to lead nonviolent protests against Hun Sen, urging Cambodian migrant workers abroad and members of the military to join him. However, his plan to enter Cambodia from Thailand was thwarted when he was refused permission to board a Thai Airways plane in Paris. Score of CNRP activists were arrested and jailed in the aftermath. “The CNRP is still determined to return to Cambodia as long as there is an opening from Hun Sen, but in fact he does not dare to open up the way for Sam Rainsy and CNRP leaders to return to Cambodia as he did in the past,” said Oum Sam An, a former CNRP lawmaker. Translated by Sok-Ry Som. Written by Nawar Nemeh.

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Journalists go into hiding after threats by Myanmar’s military junta

Editor010 mins

Local reporters from two media outlets in Myanmar went into hiding after the country’s ruling military junta threatened to sue the news agencies for reporting that regime troops killed three civilians and wounded 19 others near a Buddhist pagoda in Mon state last week. BBC Burmese and The Irrawaddy online news journal reported that military soldiers allegedly fired random shots into crowds at the Kyaiktiyo Pagoda in Mon state, one of the most famous Buddhist sites in Myanmar, on Oct. 12.  The regime blamed the attack on an anti-junta People’s Defense Force (PDF) allied with the Karen National Liberation Army’s (KNLA) Brigade 1, the civilian National Unity Government (NUG) and its parliamentary wing. It said three were killed and 19 injured in the incident. Irrawaddy and BBC reporters went into hiding after the junta issued a statement on  state-controlled Myanmar Radio and Television (MRTV) at 8 p.m. on Oct. 14, threatening to take action against their news outlets for “incorrectly” reporting on the incident.  “It is reported that The Irrawaddy and BBC Burmese news agencies, the blatant liars and the pessimist’s stooges, are going to be sued under the Electronic Communications Law, News Media Law, and the state defamation law for their accusation that the security forces randomly fired shots into crowds of pilgrims, a shameless act of violating media ethics,” the junta said in the broadcast. A relative of a BBC Burmese reporter told RFA that all local BBC journalists, including the head of the news agency, are in hiding because of the junta’s threat.   “He [the reporter] won’t be able to stay here anymore since the junta started threatening to sue them all,” said the relative, who declined to be named for safety reasons. “He is afraid of being arrested, so he had to run away and hide.” The reporter’s family members also went into hiding out of fear that the junta would hold them accountable, she said. Three civilians were killed and more than 10 others were wounded when fighting broke out at a junta inspection station at the foothill of the Kyaiktiyo Pagoda on the morning of Oct. 12, local social workers and aid groups said.  Members of an unidentifiable armed group dressed in civilian clothes attacked the facility, which is part of the Myanmar military’s 44th Light Infantry Division in the Kin Mun Chaung village, they said.   “At this moment, they are all in the hospital, three dead bodies included,” said one aid worker who declined to be named for safety reasons. “We cannot go near them. I heard 13 were wounded.” More than 100 bullets and five artillery shells were fired during the battle which lasted over an hour, a local told RFA. He also said that there were casualties on both sides. After the fighting, pro-military channels on the Telegram instant messaging service accused the PDF and KNLA of being responsible for the attack.  RFA has not been able to independently identify or confirm which forces were involved in the incident and was unable to reach for comment the leaders of the Karen National Union (KNU), the KNLA’s political wing, in Kyaikto township. Devotees pray before a huge rock covered with layers of gold at the Kyaiktiyo Pagoda on Mt. Kyaiktiyo, a popular Buddhist pilgrimage site and tourist attraction in southeastern Myanmar’s Mon state, in a file photo. Credit: AFP ‘Threats have worsened’ In a public letter to senior officials of BBC Burmese, the junta’s Ministry of Information said their Oct. 12 report on the shootings intentionally attempted to defame the military by alleging that security forces shot civilians.  A senior official at BBC World News headquarters in London said the head office was “aware of the Burmese authorities’ concerns, and we have been in contact with them to discuss this.” The Irrawaddy reported on Monday that an Oct. 14 statement from the KNU said the deaths were caused by random fire from junta forces responding to a PDF attack, citing testimony from a resident of the village where the fighting occurred.  Ye Ni, an editor at The Irrawaddy, said his news outlet’s coverage of the shooting was based on three sources.   He said that freedom of the press has been under attack since the February 2021 coup in which the military seized power from the democratically elected government. “Threats by the junta against the news media have worsened, and [we’re] already at the brink of total collapse with their brutal persecution of reporters and unlawful abolishment of news agencies since the coup,” he said.  Ye Ni also questioned why the junta threatened to sue only The Irrawaddy and BBC Burmese when several news agencies also issued similar reports on the shooting.  Kyee Myint, a high court lawyer and legal expert who lives in Myanmar, said the rule of law had disappeared under the junta. “The junta itself are the rebels who broke the law to seize power,” he said. “These rebels kill, sue and do anything else to stay in power. It’s no surprise. Since they are on the wrong side, they try to find fault with those who stand with the righteous people against injustice.” Myint Kyaw, former secretary of the Myanmar Press Council, told RFA that it is getting more difficult for journalists in Myanmar to do their jobs. “In this difficult time of collecting news, to sue a news agency only because what it covers is considered untruthful is the junta’s direct threat against the media,” he said. He also said that because The Irrawaddy is no longer based inside Myanmar, the junta’s threat would not have a serious impact on the news organizations.  “As for BBC Burmese, this is the junta’s act to pressure the BBC to self-censor and adjust its editorial policy in favor of [the junta], Myint Kyaw said.  The junta has abolished 15 news agencies, four book publishers and two printing presses in the more than 20 months following the coup. Translated by Myo Min Aung for RFA Burmese. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.

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Business bad for Bagan’s buggy drivers as pandemic and coup keep tourists away

Editor09 mins

For 50 years, Maung Maung has been a horse-and-buggy driver in the ancient city of Bagan, ferrying tourists around to its soaring spires and iconic Buddhist pagodas and temples.  But tourists have dwindled to a trickle, thanks to the combination of the Covid-19 pandemic that reached Myanmar in March 2020 and military coup the next February. “Recently, a few tourists came back but not as many as before,” said Maung Maung, who’s 70. “Now there are very few. Some days, I don’t make a single dime (what word did he use?). Others, I make only a little money.” Making matters worse, rising inflation has eroded his spending power.  When business was good, he typically made 20,000-30,000 kyats (U.S. $6-10) a day, but that’s dropped sharply. He said he charges 1,300 kyats (about U.S. $0.40) per hour for pleasure rides around Bagan and dedicated prices to specific temples pilgrims want to visit. Since the junta took power, a year-and-a-half ago, Myanmar’s economy has tumbled. Last year, its GDP contracted by 18 percent, and the International Monetary Fund estimates that 1.6 million jobs were lost in 2022, or around 7% of the workforce.  Economic growth estimates for 2022, including the World Bank’s forecast of 3% growth, seem overly optimistic now that about 40 percent of the population is living under the poverty line. Soaring Inflation, Plunging Currency Inflation was 14 percent in mid-2022 and accelerated to more than 18 percent by mid-September, with rice prices up 35-50% and gas prices spiking amid shortages. That‘s impacted all kinds of businesses, as many rely on generators due to frequent electricity shortages.  Myanmar’s currency, the kyat, lost 60 percent of its value against the dollar in 2022. The kyat briefly traded at a record low, below 4,000 kyat to the U.S. dollar, while the official conversion rate is 2,100. The son of farmers, Maung Maung’s father bought him a buggy when he was just 20 years old. He told RFA Burmese that the vehicle had provided him with a steady stream of income for many years behind a mare named Mi Chaw. Bagan, in Myanmar’s central Mandalay region, has long been a cultural capital and a major tourist hub that’s home to the remains of more than 2,200 Buddhist temples and pagodas, mostly dating from between the 11th and 13th centuries. The former capital of the Bagan kingdom that would unify the regions that collectively became known as Myanmar, the city was officially recognized as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 2019.  Despite dwindling income and few visitors, Maung Maung continues running his business because driving horse-drawn buggies is what he knows, and is one of the few jobs he can do at his age. When he was younger, Maung Maung would farm during the tourism off-season, but he no longer has the strength for agricultural labor. Kyi Kyi Swe, Maung Maung’s daughter, told RFA that he cares deeply about the horses he has bred and taken care of their whole lives, and would never think of abandoning them. “Before, he asked his son to drive the buggy while he worked on the farms,” she said. “As he has grown old, he can’t do farm work and is back in buggy driving.” “He takes good care of [Mi Chaw]. He doesn’t want to see her lean. He feeds her all the time. Even at night, he gets up to feed her,” she said. “The horse also knows him well. She whinnies for more food at night. My dad leaves home around 5:30 a.m. every morning to drive to the buggy station and wait for his turn to drive.” Dwindling tradition Other buggy drivers in Bagan told RFA that the city council has granted licenses to around 300 people to operate horse-drawn carts, but only around 100 of them are actively working due to the decrease in tourism. One driver, named Soe Tint, said horse drawn buggies are as much a symbol of Bagan as the landscape and temples, and are often seen together in promotional material for tourists. But even prior to the pandemic and the coup, the number of buggies in Bagan had declined as they were replaced with modern vehicles. “I want to sell my horse since I have farm work. I paid around 1,500,000 kyats for them, but now they are worth only 700,000-800,000 kyats. I would even sell them for 600,000 kyats only, he said. “If things get better and the visitors return, the buggy business would grow again. Touring Bagan is most enjoyable by horse-drawn buggy. But they won’t come back if the good times don’t return.” Maung Maung acknowledged that if business conditions don’t improve, he will have to give up his business and depend on his family. “My business is so bad that I have been struggling to make ends meet. I just want to make enough for food and other necessities, like rice, cooking oil or salt,” he said. “If I get just a few more visitors [than average], I can make just enough to cover necessities. If I don’t have any, I have to buy them on credit. If the business doesn’t improve, I will have to sell my horses and live on my children’s income.” Translated by Ye Kaung Myint Maung for RFA Burmese. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.

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Riverboat ferrying students home from school in Cambodia sinks, killing 10

Editor04 mins

Ten students drowned and another remains missing after a boat ferrying them home from school sank Thursday in the Khouk River in Cambodia’s southern Kandal province, sources in the country told RFA. The Kandal police confirmed Friday that authorities rescued four students from the Khouk, a tributary of the Mekong River, and are still searching for the missing student. They found the bodies of the other 10 students who drowned and estimated that they were all about 10 years old. Kandal Provincial Police Commissioner Chhoeun Socheat told RFA’s Khmer Service that the boat was very small and that it sank at around 7 p.m. on October 13. According to preliminary conclusions, the boat likely sank due to overcrowding, he said. Prime Minister Hun Sen expressed his condolences over the incident on Facebook, but stopped short of calling for an investigation. “The relevant authorities must continue to search for the victims and help with the victims’ funerals and offer services needed,” he said.  “To those who live along the rivers, please be vigilant, especially during flooding.” Cambodia is in the final weeks of its rainy season, which lasts from May to October. Coffin of a child, a victim of a boat accident, is transported in a ferry during a funeral procession in Koh Chamroeun village, east of Phnom Penh, Friday, Oct. 14, 2022. Ten students drowned and another remains missing after a boat ferrying them to school sunk in a river in Cambodia’s southern Kandal province, sources in the country told RFA. Photo:AP Kandal Provincial Governor Kong Sophoan told RFA that as of Friday night, the missing victim has not yet been found. He blamed the boat operators for their carelessness and said the boat was very old. “The boat operators lack experience, he said. “Authorities are investigating the incident.” Though authorities must ensure a boat is in good condition in order for owners to legally operate it, he acknowledged that loopholes exist. The 10 students were kind, smart and diligent, and were working hard to learn both in Khmer and English, Rong Chhun, the former president of the Cambodian Independent Teachers Association and president of the Cambodian Trade Union Confederation, told RFA.  “Those were active children who really paid attention to their studies. They had to cross the river from their houses to study on the other side,” he said. “They were dedicated hard-working kids. I am deeply saddened.” UNICEF wrote a message of condolence on Facebook that also called on the public to refrain from sharing pictures and video of the incident on social media because it could cause distress for friends and family. Translated by Samean Yun. Written in English by Eugene Whong.

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More than 200,000 children displaced in three states since Myanmar coup

Editor010 mins

More than 200,000 children have been displaced by fighting in Myanmar’s war-torn states of Kayin, Kayah and Rakhine since the military took control of the country in a February 2021 coup, according to data compiled by rights groups, NGOs, and anti-junta forces. Beyond the psychological trauma they experience, children are vulnerable to military airstrikes and at risk of capture by junta troops, who press them into forced labor, use them as human shields and sell them as sex slaves to human trafficking rings, the Karen Human Rights Group, or KHRG, said in a report released Tuesday. Pregnant women and babies are also caught up in the conflict. “Pregnant women fleeing the war have no choice but to give birth in caves in the forest, unsheltered from the elements out in the open, or along riverbanks,” said Saw Nanda Soo, a spokesperson for the group. “Since they are on the run, they are entirely deprived of health care and supplies such as diapers, baby formula and medicine,” she said. All told, the fighting between junta military forces and various rebel groups has created more than 350,000 people who are internally displaced, more than half of them under the age of 18, the group said. And of those minors, more than half are girls. The vast majority of the displaced children, or about 175,000 of them, have fled their homes in Kayin state, which borders Thailand in southeastern Myanmar, the KHRG report said. Aid groups said that a combined 50,000 children have been displaced in Kayah, just north of Kayin state, and in Rakhine, in the west, near Bangladesh. No concrete numbers have been provided for the number of children displaced since the coup in Sagaing region in the northwest, which has seen some of the worst fighting between the military and anti-junta groups. The United Nations recently announced that at least 500,000 people have fled conflict in Sagaing in the past 20 months. ‘Running and Learning’ A member of the Kayah State Basic Education Teachers Union told RFA that more than 30,000 children have become displaced in the region since the military takeover, and are forced to study in makeshift camps or while sheltering in the jungle. “Artillery shells hit us every day and you never know when another one will come,” the union member said. “Our children were denied [proper] education for an entire year due to COVID-19 [school closures] and then another because of the [insecurity following the] coup. We can’t just stop learning, so we must teach them on the run.” The union member said that they are constantly on the move, and when they reach somewhere deemed temporarily safe, they resume teaching. “We’re stuck in a cycle of running and learning.” In the western state of Rakhine, the rebel group Arakan Army reports similar numbers. In just the past two months, at least 20,000 children have become displaced since fighting resumed with the military after a two-year lull. That’s on top of the 82,000 children who had already been driven from their homes. The rebel group said that the internally displaced people in Rakhine are housed in more than 150 different camps, where some 10,000 children attempt to continue their studies despite the regional violence. Two refugee children are seen in Taungoo, Bago region, Myanmar, on Sept. 25, 2022. Credit: RFA ‘Biggest loss in our children’s education’ Zaw Zaw Tun, a humanitarian volunteer in Rakhine, said the junta soldiers fire artillery into their villages and then sweep into the villages, arresting residents. “Many of us are constantly on the run due to regional insecurity, rather than any specific battle,” the volunteer said. “The biggest loss is our children’s education. Meanwhile, food is scarce and we are dealing with health issues such as the seasonal flu now that it is turning to winter.” Regional support groups say it has become increasingly difficult to gather accurate statistics for the number of people displaced by fighting throughout the country since the coup because the junta is actively blocking international humanitarian groups from assisting them. The junta has yet to respond to reports of the scale of displaced children and the risks they face while on the run. On Oct. 10, Kyaw Moe Tun, Myanmar’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, told the U.N. General Assembly that since the coup, the junta has killed at least 2,338 civilians, including 91 children under the age of 14 and 209 children between the ages of 15 and 18.  He said that children in Myanmar have been particularly affected by the conflict under military rule and are regularly deprived of their rights. According to data from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, or UNHCR, there are 89 million refugees worldwide, 36 million of whom are children. In Myanmar, the refugee agency said, at least 1.3 million children have been displaced since the coup, compared to around 300,000 beforehand. Meanwhile, in the central Bago region, 2,000 people have fled the conflict between the military and Karen National Union (KNU) since this February. The physical and mental health of those who are displaced are rapidly deteriorating, said Saw Maung Maung, a volunteer in Taungoo, adding that aid groups are facing shortages as donations dry up. “The donors are running out of patience,” he said. “There is a scarcity of food and other necessities needed for the refugees. We are in a difficult situation and have had to find ways to connect with other organizations to meet our long-term needs,” he said. Saw Htoo Htoo, a displaced 9-year-old in Taungoo, said he was forced to flee his village in Kyaukkyi and take shelter in the jungle for about a week after “fighter jets roared overhead, shooting at us repeatedly.” “I was barefoot from the start… In the rain, I was nearly eaten alive by the mosquitoes … Soldiers were always hunting us as we ran and we were constantly shaking with fear,” he said. “We had to run for our lives, but at least now…

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Cambodian Supreme Court orders retrial for autistic teen son of opposition activists

Editor06 mins

Cambodia’s Supreme Court ordered the Court of Appeals to retry the case of Kak Sovanchhay, the autistic teenage son of opposition activists, who was last year sentenced to eight months in prison for incitement and insulting public officials. Kak Sovannchhay, 17, is the son of Kak Komphear, a jailed senior official of the banned opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP).  He was arrested at his home in Phnom Penh on June 24, 2021, over a Facebook post and voice messages in which he was critical of the government in response to someone calling his father a traitor. The Phnom Penh Municipal Court sentenced him on Nov. 1, but credited him four-and-a-half months for time served and commuted the remainder of his sentence, thereby allowing his release a little more than a week later. Additionally the court ordered he remain under judicial supervision for two years. He appealed the conviction but it was upheld on March 14, 2022. The Supreme Court on Wednesday accepted the facts from the appellate trial but rejected the conviction and six conditions set on Kak Sovannchhay while under judicial supervision. Prum Chantha, Kak Sovannchhay’s mother, told RFA’s Khmer Service that her son’s imprisonment was a threat from the government because her family continues to promote democracy. She said the Court of Appeals should drop the sentence because her son, who was only 16 at the time of his arrest, was a child. Additionally the sentence leaves a mark on his record that could seriously affect his future. “First, it affects his opportunities to learn, second he gets discrimination, and third, when he goes to find work, his name will be associated with the conviction, so it is a very serious punishment,” said Prum Chantha. “He is just a minor and he has a disability,” she said, referring to his autism. “He is very young.” Kak Sovannchhay’s lawyer Sam Sokong told RFA he believes the verdict is a violation of his client’s human rights. “I urge the authorities as well as the Royal Government to consider the case of this child and to consider the interests of the child as enshrined in the Convention on the Rights of the Child and other rights related to children’s rights,” he said. Based on Cambodia’s Penal Code and the Convention on the Rights of the Child, to which Cambodia is a party, judges should be highly considerate and refrain from convicting children, opting for rehabilitation or education instead of imprisonment, Sam Sokong said. Am Sam Ath of the local Cambodian League for the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights (Licadho), a local NGO, told RFA that he believes the Supreme Court handed the case back to the appellate court because it is skeptical about certain aspects of the law and how they were applied in Kak Sovannchhay’s case. He urged the Court of Appeals to retry the case as soon as possible and drop all charges. “We look at first the interests of the child,” he said. “Secondly, this child has a chronic disability called autism, and thirdly, if we look at the dialogue in social media used to convict him was a private conversation,” he said. Kak Sovannchhay had been previously arrested in October 2020, then in April 2021, two men attacked him with bricks while he was driving a motorbike, leaving him with a fractured skull. Police never found either attacker. The conviction and sentence of an autisitic child was neither necessary nor proportionate,  a May 2022 report on the trial by the American Bar Association said. “Sovannchhay’s conviction further shows the lengths to which the Cambodian government will go to silence dissenting voices as well as the urgent need to reform Cambodia’s ‘incitement’ law, which has been a crucial tool in the authorities’ crackdown on civil society,” the report said.  Translated by Samean Yun. Written in English by Eugene Whong.

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French court acquits Cambodian opposition leader in defamation cases

Editor011 mins

A court in France has dismissed two defamation cases brought against Cambodian opposition leader Sam Rainsy by Prime Minister Hun Sen and a senior police official, but both sides were quick to claim victory in the proceedings, citing elements that advanced their own narrative. The Paris tribunal judiciaire ruled on Monday that Sam Rainsy – a dual citizen of France and head of the banned Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) – was guilty of defamation against Hun Sen when he posted a message to social media in 2019 claiming that the prime minister had ordered the assassination of Cambodia’s former National Police Chief Hok Lundy. However, the court found that Sam Rainsy’s right to freedom of expression trumped the ruling and granted him clemency. Hok Lundy died in 2008 when his helicopter crashed in Svay Rieng province during bad weather, but Sam Rainsy maintains that the aircraft was downed in an explosion. “The correlative factual basis for this imputation [that Hun Sen is responsible for Hok Lundy’s death] is tenuous,” the court said, adding that Sam Rainsy’s statements were made “in a context of denunciation of violations of human rights by a political opponent who … cannot go to Cambodia in order to continue its investigations” of the incident. “Under these conditions, it appears that a criminal conviction would undermine manifestly disproportionate to the right to freedom of expression protected by Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights.” The court also ruled that an allegation in Sam Rainsy’s social media post that Hok Lundy’s son, Deputy Commissioner General of the National Police Dy Vichea, was aware of Hun Sen’s involvement in his father’s death and planned to take “revenge” on the prime minister, did not meet the legal definition of defamation. Dy Vichea is also Hun Sen’s son-in-law. “The reference to a political opponent who could have other reasons to dismiss Hun Sen from power does not necessarily refer to recourse to violence but may as well refer to an alliance of a political nature,” the ruling said, noting that Sam Rainsy provided no details in his comments about the details of the alleged revenge plot and its status. “Therefore, in the absence of precision on the projects thus imputed to Dy Vichea making it possible to establish their illegal nature and even to discern their exact content, the remarks do not undermine his honor and his consideration.” In addition to granting clemency to Sam Rainsy, the court dismissed a countersuit by the opposition leader that Hun Sen pay for his expenses related to the proceedings. In a June 2019 Facebook post that prompted the lawsuits against him, Sam Rainsy wrote that “Hun Sen killed Hok Lundy using a bomb placed inside his helicopter … because he knew too much about Hun Sen’s misdeeds.” He also claimed that Dy Vichea “knows well the cause of his father’s assassination” and is “hatching a plan to avenge his father’s death.” The Paris tribunal judiciaire heard both defamation cases against Sam Rainsy in a five-hour session on Sept. 1 before delivering its verdict Monday. Ruling reactions In a statement that followed the verdict, Sam Rainsy’s legal team welcomed the two acquittals, saying that “the French justice system has solemnly confirmed the legitimacy of his actions and defended his freedom of expression.” “For our client, this judgment is much more than a personal victory, but is a ray of hope for defenders of freedom and justice in Cambodia and elsewhere.” Sam Rainsy said Monday that he had won the case, despite the court’s ruling that he was guilty of defamation and then spared. “[The] French court rules that Sam Rainsy wins the case against Prime Minister Hun Sen and his son-in-law,” he said in a post to the Telegram social media network, referring to Dy Vichea. On Facebook, Sam Rainsy characterized the court’s decision as “good news.”. Hun Sen also jumped on the ruling as proof of his “innocence” in Hok Lundy’s death during a speech he made to a university graduation ceremony in the capital Phnom Penh on Tuesday, saying the court found Sam Rainsy’s accusations “baseless and unwarranted” because they lacked evidence to support them. He said Sam Rainsy had failed to provide direct evidence or any testimony through witness affidavits to prove the crash was due to an explosion, and no autopsy report was available to provide the court. “It means that [Sam Rainsy] just made these accusations without having any evidence to submit to court. So the court said that this had nothing to do with Hun Sen,” he said, referring to himself in the third-person, according to a report by the Phnom Penh Post. “What did Hun Sen want from this that prompted him to trouble Rainsy at his home? Hun Sen wants innocence and nothing else. [Rainsy] claimed that they won the case somehow and I don’t know how they can possibly say this.” Hun Sen said he has no intention of appealing the court decision, but would follow along if Sam Rainsy does. Hun Sen’s comments follow those of his lawyer, Ky Tech, who told local media in France on Monday that the court’s ruling showed Sam Rainsy had provided “no clear evidence or confirmation” of the prime minister’s involvement in Hok Lundy’s death. Ky Tech also claimed that the court “also gave another reason to confirm that Sam Rainsy did indeed defame [Hun Sen], which cannot be denied,” without providing further details. Cambodia case The French court’s ruling follows Sam Rainsy’s December 2021 trial in absentia by the Phnom Penh Municipal Court for “falsifying information” regarding the death of Hok Lundy. Sam Rainsy has lived in France since 2015 to avoid what he says are a string of politically motivated charges and convictions against him. The acting CNRP leader tried to return on Nov. 9, 2019 to lead nonviolent protests against Hun Sen, urging Cambodian migrant workers abroad and members of the military to join him. However, his plan to enter Cambodia from…

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Laos put on edge by two recent brutal killings of Chinese nationals

Editor08 mins

The grisly killings of two Chinese nationals, whose bodies were found stuffed into bags and floating in rivers within two weeks of each other, have put residents of Laos on edge. No connection between the two killings has been confirmed, but authorities say both may have been involved in business deals gone sour, sources in Laos told Radio Free Asia.  On Sept. 15, villagers from Vientiane Province’s Phon Hong district found a body floating near a dam that was identified as belonging to Chinese businessman Yang Youhai, 37, who had operated an iron bar manufacturer. The body was found in a plastic bag with his hands and feet bound, a police official said. “They are still investigating and the cause is unknown,” a police official from Vientiane’s Naxaythong district told RFA’s Lao Service. “There is no closed-circuit camera at the location where they dumped the body. They don’t know where it came from, what direction. They know only that this body is of the person from the iron bar company.” Yang was a “big boss” at his company, and had come to Laos three months prior, another police official from the capital said. The body was cremated in Vientiane, and some of the bones are to be sent to China for further investigation. The suspected motive is a business-related conflict, the second police official said. Dismembered body Two weeks later, Thai police on Sept. 29 discovered a suitcase floating in the Mekong River containing the dismembered body of Viphaphone Kongsy, 36, chairwoman of the Lao VIP investment company. A dual citizen of Laos and China, the woman also went by the name Lì Jūn Vp. She had been missing since Sept. 10. The Lao Ministry of Public Security set up a special committee to investigate, but hasn’t released any statements or information about evidence.  An official from the rescue team in Thailand’s That Phnom district, where the body was found, told RFA he went to pick up the body bag and found evidence that suggested murder.  “Her face was beaten by something strong like an iron bar,” he said. “The right side of her stomach has been torn out. She might have been beaten hard with an iron bar before she died.” A couple days later, residents in Vientiane spotted what turned out to be her car floating in the Mekong River. Her decomposing body parts are being kept at the Nakhon Phanom hospital in Thailand, a Thai police official said. “They have to test her relatives’ DNA before they can return her body to Laos,” the official said.  The two killings are the latest in a string of similar incidents involving Chinese nationals engaged in business in Laos, where China has invested heavily in infrastructure and manufacturing projects. ‘Very Afraid’  With the news of each case, the Lao public has grown ever more fearful, sources told RFA, sparking fears of growing lawlessness. “News of the murder is making villagers very afraid. They want local officials, police and soldiers to patrol all the time, and the villagers want to take part to be the eyes and ears helping them as well,” said a villager from Phon Hong, where Yang’s body was found. Soldiers patrol the dam where the body was found 24 hours a day, he said. “This was a murder with the intent to kill this guy without mercy,” a police official said, asking not to be identified.  “There have been killings in many provinces in Laos in the past mostly from drug trafficking and drug trades or robbery and stealing, conflict in the family, or among friends, but not as harsh as this one.”  Reports of such killings have increased in recent years of growing resentment in Laos over Chinese business presence in the country, over Chinese casinos and special economic zones which have been linked to human trafficking and crime.  Viphaphone’s investigation should be handled in a transparent way to ease the fears of the people, a Lao source who has been following the case told RFA. “They should announce what they know to the public, what’s going on, right now,” he said.  Another Lao source who is following the case said that it was likely a business-related killing. “Based on observation, this case of murder looks like it stems from business conflict. But the police have not revealed anything yet,” the second source said. “We never dreamed that anything like this would happen in Laos.” A former Lao government official with knowledge of cases like these also believes the deaths are a result of business conflicts, “perhaps with Laotian, Vietnamese or Chinese who invested money and had a conflict with her and lost,” he said. A Lao expert on criminal law declined to express an opinion on the case or speculate on its outcome. “But I believe that related sectors must urgently solve this case because it is a horrible case for the public to think about,” the expert said. Translated by Sidney Khotpanya and Ounkeo Souksavanh. Written in English by Eugene Whong.

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Fighting in Myanmar’s Sagaing region kills 16 anti-junta fighters

Editor07 mins

Fighting over the weekend in northwestern Myanmar’s restive Sagaing region between the military junta’s soldiers and People’s Defense Force (PDF)  militias left 16 rebels dead, with some corpses showing signs of severe torture, local sources told RFA. “They had tortured them inhumanely. They cut the skins everywhere severely to keep them from being distinguished from each other,” Tauk Te, a member of the PDF Myanmar Defense Force, said of the seven bodies they found. “Some had their insides spilling out through open holes in their stomachs and some had their brains coming out of their heads.” Sagaing, an agricultural region where resistance against the junta is strong, has seen some of the most intense fighting in Myanmar since the military took control in the February 2021 coup. More than half a million people in Sagaing have been displaced by the fighting, according to a U.N. report released last month.  The fighting took place in two separate battles, in Wetlet township, just north of Mandalay, and in Taze township, farther north. In Taze, two rebel units attacked junta soldiers with artillery near Tat Thit village around noon on Friday, local sources told RFA, reportedly killing six junta soldiers. The next day, fighting continued, forcing about 4,000 civilians to flee their homes in eight villages, including Ka La Zin, Dei Yauk and Chaung Yoer, the PDF press department in Taze said.  Farther south, in Wetlet township, junta soldiers attacked a small rebel camp near Pha Yar Lay Kone and Nay Pu Kone villages,  local PDF sources said. The attack included an hour-long air raid by 2 fighter jets and a Mi-35 military helicopter that were followed by two Mi-17 supply choppers that dropped off around 100 junta soldiers, they said. Both the Mi-35 and Mi-17 helicopters are made by Russia, which has resisted international pressure not to arm Myanmar’s junta amid its crackdown on civilians that began after the military took control in a February 2021 coup. Six rebel fighters were killed in the airstrikes, a PDF source said, and three were captured and tortured to death. “They cut their skin and faces, and hit their heads with gun butts until they were killed, the source said.  The rebel unit lost hand-made guns, 40MM grenades and over 450 million kyat worth of military hardware. The soldiers also reportedly burned down their camp buildings in the area.  Undated photo of Taze People’s Defense Force. Credit: Taze PDF Locals told RFA that four people in their 20’s and five people in their 30’s were among the deceased, and their names have not been released yet. So far, RFA has received no response from junta spokesperson and minister for social affairs Aye Hlaing about the hostilities in Sagaing.  Area residents also said that junta troops stationed at a monastery on Du Thin hill near Nay Pu Kone village captured 15 local civilians in the process.  One civilian fleeing Nay Pu Kone said there have been more frequent air attacks by the junta in their region lately. “We had to be really cautious at the sound of airplanes. No fighter jets flew over us before. Now that they are here on us, you can imagine the danger we are in. We had nowhere to run when they came.” Local residents said that more than 1,000 villagers from Nay Pu Kone and are too afraid to go back to their homes with junta soldiers still stationed there. Myint Oo, the ousted parliamentary representative of Wetlet, said that the junta has used more air strikes because they have been faced with landmines in ground assaults. “They dare not come by trucks. Lately, they have to leave their trucks somewhere safe and walk as our PDF forces have set up landmines in several locations. But even then, they still face landmine attacks. So they now rely mainly on air strikes,” Myint Oo said.  “Their acts of human rights abuse go beyond any words. They don’t care about any local or international law. They just do whatever they want,” Myint Oo said. “They have given full authority to even juniors who, as a result, kill indiscriminately without moral conscience for civilians, including children.” Reported by RFA Burmese. Written in English by Nawar Nemeh.

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Investigative Journalism Reportika © March 2022 by Ij-Reportika is licensed under CC BY 4.0