Day: August 18, 2021

A court in the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh on Wednesday sentenced prominent union leader Rong Chhun to two years in jail for his criticism of the government’s handling of a longstanding border dispute with neighboring Vietnam.
Rong Chhun, who is also a member of the Cambodia Watchdog Council (CWC) umbrella NGO of unions representing teachers, workers, farmers, and students, was jailed at Prey Sar Prison on Aug. 1, 2020, a day after his arrest for claiming the government has allowed Vietnam to encroach on Cambodian farmland along the border.
The Phnom Penh Municipal Court also ordered Rong Chhun to pay 2 million riels (U.S. $490) in fines, along with the maximum two years prison term for his charge of “incitement to commit a felony” in violation of Article 945 of Cambodia’s penal code.
The court sentenced two other activists, Sar Kanika and Tun Nimol, each to serve 20 months in jail and pay the same fine. The court also ordered the three activists to pay about $100,000 in compensation to the Cambodia Border Affairs Committee.
Following the judge’s announcement, Rong Chhun, Sar Kanika, and Tun Nimol shouted “unjust,” “The court is not independent, and its verdicts are given under political influences.”
Court officials then asked the three activists to sign their names in a blank book. Rong Chhun refused, but the other two signed.
Guards at the court forbade anyone to visit Rong Chhun following the verdict, citing COVID-19 concerns.
The three defendants have asked their defense lawyer Sam Sokong to appeal against the lower court’s decisions.
Speaking to RFA’s Khmer Service, defense attorney Sam Sokong said the verdicts against his clients are harsh.
“As a lawyer, I am disappointed with the verdicts,” he said. “Based on the evidence and the law, my clients should have been acquitted of all charges.”
“We even saw a maximum punishment handed down that I rarely ever see, and the civil compensation is also harsh and not equivalent to the [alleged] damage,” he added.
About 20 observers, including diplomats, attended the court’s announcement of the verdict.
Rong Chhun’s nephew Rong Vichea told reporters in front of the courthouse that he would not accept the verdict against his uncle, describing it as unfair and saying the court had not reached its decision independently.
“I am very sad and cannot accept it. The court sentenced a nationalist who is innocent to two years in jail. This shows a double standard [in justice] in Khmer society,” he said.
Tun Nimol’s wife Chhey Srey Ny told RFA that she has urged the court to release her husband, saying he and the other activists are innocent.
Ny Sokha, president of the local rights group ADHOC told RFA that NGOs were saddened with the court’s decision and that the trio had not committed any crime. Freedom of expression and the right to peaceful gatherings are basic rights protected by the Constitution, he said.
The verdict against Rong Chhun’s verdict will now intimidate and discourage people, especially Cambodia’s youth, from speaking freely about border issues, he said.
“The border is a sensitive issue… between Cambodia and Vietnam… so the court has shown its lack of independence by handing down these verdicts,” he said.
An emotional Ouk Chhayavy, president of the Cambodian Independent Teachers Association (CITA), told RFA that she was sad that the country’s Ministry of Justice cannot be relied on by the Cambodian people.
“We all have lost confidence in [the ministry]. Rong Chhun is an individual who focused on border issues and human rights violations in Cambodia. Rong Chhun worked to promote human rights, but human rights in Cambodia is on the decline,” she said.
“When I listened to the verdict, I was so hurt to see Rong Chhun in such poor health, and that he was not given the right to speak out.”
In response to criticism of the verdict, Ministry of Justice spokesman Chin Malin told the pro-government online newspaper Fresh News that anyone wanting to help Rong Chhun’s legal case should provide evidence and not make allegations if they want the court to drop charges or grant appeals against the verdicts.
Rong Chhun’s verdict does not represent “intimidation or pressure against freedom, but rather promotes freedom and the rule of law in a democratic society,” he said.
Pablo Kang, Australia’s ambassador to Cambodia, wrote on Twitter that the verdicts for the three activists were “disheartening.”
He said the harsh verdicts “were for what most would see as the peaceful expression of legitimate albeit controversial points of view, rather than incitement.”
“[Cambodia] should be better than this,” he said.
U.S. Ambassador W. Patrick Murphy also tweeted criticism of the verdict, saying, “The conviction of respected union leader Rong Chhun raises serious questions about freedom of speech protected in Cambodia’s constitution and essential to the functioning of a democracy.”
“The judicial system should not be abused to silence peaceful activists,” he wrote.
Longstanding border issues
Unresolved border issues between Cambodia and Vietnam, both former French colonies from the 1860s to 1954, have sparked incidents in the past, with the construction by Vietnam of military posts in contested areas quickly challenged by Cambodian authorities in Phnom Penh.
In June 2015, activists from the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) were attacked by Vietnamese villagers when they went to inspect an area in Svay Rieng province where they said a road built by authorities in Vietnam’s Long An province had encroached into Cambodian territory.
A joint communique signed by Cambodia and Vietnam in 1995 stipulates that neither side can make any changes to border markers or allow cross-border cultivation or settlement pending the resolution of outstanding border issues.

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Cambodia’s Prime Minister Hun Sen has acknowledged Senior General Min Aung Hlaing as the head of state in Myanmar in an open letter sent to the junta chief pledging to help control a deadly third wave of the coronavirus that has ravaged the country amid the political unrest of a coup d’état.
In the missive, dated Aug. 17 and addressed to “His Excellency Senior General Min Aung Hlaing” from Cambodia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Hun Sen says that he has “closely observed your country’s effort to fight against the outbreak” and offers U.S. $200,000 in cash to the regime leader “in the spirit of friendship and solidarity between our two countries.”
He also announces plans to donate medical equipment, including face masks, rapid COVID-19 tests, personal protective equipment (PPE), oxygen supplies, and ventilators.
Minister of Health and chair of the Inter-Ministerial Committee to Combat COVID-19 Mam Bunheng will lead a delegation to deliver the donations by a special flight arranged to Myanmar’s capital Naypyidaw “soon,” the letter says.
“I am firmly convinced that with our joint efforts, we will overcome this global pandemic in one piece,” Hun Sen writes, offering “the assurances of my highest consideration and wishes.”
Cambodia’s Supreme Court dissolved the main opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) in November 2017 and barred its members from taking part in political activities, two months after the arrest of party president Kem Sokha for his role in an alleged scheme to topple Hun Sen’s government.
The ban, along with a wider crackdown on NGOs and the independent media, paved the way for Hun Sen’s ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) to win all 125 seats in the country’s 2018 general election. The strongman has ruled Cambodia for some 36 years, making him one of the world’s longest-serving leaders.
Hun Sen’s letter comes nearly six months after Min Aung Hlaing led Myanmar’s military in a Feb. 1 coup d’état, claiming that Aung San Suu Kyi’s democratically elected National League for Democracy (NLD) won the country’s November 2020 election by rigging the ballot. The junta has yet to provide evidence of its claims and has brutally repressed anti-coup protests, killing at least 1,006 people and arresting 5,730, according to the Bangkok-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners.
Rights groups have condemned the junta for cracking down on protesters, while Western governments have leveled sanctions against the military and demanded that it end its campaign of violence and release all political prisoners.
Efforts to control the spread of the coronavirus in Myanmar were dealt a serious blow when the military seized power in February. The country’s healthcare system is now at the brink of collapse due to a poorly managed third wave of COVID-19 that has killed more than 8,600 people in the past month.
The official number of infections rose Wednesday to a total of 360,291 since Myanmar’s first recorded case in March last year, with at least 13,623 dead, although the actual numbers are believed to be substantially higher, based on reports by aid groups.
The country’s public hospitals are operating at maximum capacity and have been turning away all but the most seriously ill. Other patients are being forced to settle for treatment at home amid shortages of basic medical necessities, including oxygen supplies critical to mitigating hypoxia, when oxygen fails to reach bodily tissues.
Tens of thousands of people, including many healthcare professionals, have left their jobs to join a nationwide Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) in opposition to junta rule. Many have faced arrest for voicing criticism of the regime.
‘No reason to boast’
Dr. Seng Sary, a Cambodian political commentator, told RFA’s Khmer Service Wednesday that Hun Sen’s gesture was appropriate “from a humanitarian perspective,” but noted that the reason the aid is needed is because Myanmar’s government is “incapable of effectively containing the virus amid economic sanctions and a deteriorating political crisis.”
“The Burmese people no longer respect their government since the leader grabbed power via a coup,” he said.
“There is no reason that the Cambodian government should boast about supporting the Burmese government in combating COVID-19.”
Seng Sary went on to note that Hun Sen’s government has failed to control the coronavirus in its own country and should be spending its time supporting Cambodians who face food shortages and unemployment because of the pandemic.
Dr. Sophal Ear, associate dean at the Thunderbird School of Global Management at Arizona State University, told RFA that Hun Sen may have sought to instill a debt of gratitude in Min Aung Hlaing and his embattled government.
“On the surface, it appears philanthropic. Underneath, it’s about creating links. But this amount, especially for a country the size of Myanmar, is not much,” he said.
Sophal Ear agreed that Hun Sen was wrong to assist the junta at a time when the citizens of his country are still suffering from his inability to mitigate the effects of the pandemic.
“Of course, rural Cambodians and migrant workers are not high priority for the authorities, so while Myanmar’s junta gets these donations, rural Cambodians and migrant workers suffer,” he said.
“It’s about power and who is useful. One day, the Myanmar junta will be useful to Phnom Penh. Rural Cambodians and migrant workers do not have the influence or the power to do much for Phnom Penh. However, we know that they number millions. If democracy prevailed in Cambodia, they would have real power at the ballot box.”
Attempts to reach Cambodia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as well as Myanmar junta spokesperson Maj. Gen. Zaw Tun and officials with Myanmar’s shadow National Unity Government (NUG) for comment on Hun Sen’s letter went unanswered Wednesday.

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