The restricted freedom of expression for media workers also applies on political opponents, which the dreadful case of Sam Rainsy, the main opposition leader, clearly exemplifies.
Rainsy went into self-exile on February 3, 2005 after a vote in the National Assembly removed his parliamentarian immunity along with two other party members. Rainsy was charged with criminal defamation for his accusation of corruption between the CPP and Funcinpec in the formation of the current coalition government. Moreover he accused Prime Minister Hun Sen of involvement in the murder of Chea Vichea in 2004. He was tried in absentia on December 22, 2005 and sentenced to 18 months imprisonment along with a fine of $14,000 as compensation.
However, on February 5, 2006, at Hun Sen’s request, Rainsy received a Royal Pardon by King Norodom Sihamoni and returned to Cambodia on February 10, 2006.
In October 2009 Sam Rainsy led a protest against alleged border markings at the Vietnamese border, which Cambodian villagers are said to have lost land to.
Vietnam condemned Rainsy’s actions and urged the Cambodian government to protect the treaties and agreements between the two countries. Soon after Rainsy faced a sentence of 2 years imprisonment as the court found him guilty of destruction of property and racial incitement for uprooting markers along the Vietnam border. Rainsy fled to England France, where he is currently in exile.
On January 1, 2010 the court issued an arrest warrant after Rainsy failed to appear in court due to his exile. On September 23, 2010, Rainsy was sentenced to 12 years additional imprisonment on forgery and disinformation charges for publishing a map on his party’s website of the alleged Vietnamese border encroachment. He also received a fine of more than $15,000 as reparation since he, according to a judge, had posted the map as an act to damage the image of the Cambodian government.
The verdict has been condemned by the international community. However the Government attorney Ky Tech defends the absurd verdict explaining that “the damage caused by Sam Rainsy was very big.”
The new sentence of Sam Rainsy will obviously deprive Cambodia of its main opposition leader and therefore weaken the opposition up to the 2012 election. The case illustrates the government’s systematic use of the courts to silence critics and political opponents. It furthermore illustrates the arbitrary use of defamation and disinformation laws. The increased criminalization of defamation and disinformation confirms the fear of a decline in the right to freedom of expression and the right to association and assembly in Cambodia. The government along with state officials seem to have developed a hypersensitivity to criticism as the control of the individual freedom and the political climate for free debates has tightened.
Ironically, while perpetrators of serious crimes remain unpunished, political opponents and dissidents keep facing absurd and severe sentences ruled by court.
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