Cambodia PM Orders Four Critics Released on Bail

[Supharidh Hy]

January 17, 2006
Cambodia PM Orders Four Critics Released on Bail
By REUTERS

PHNOM PENH (Reuters) - Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen ordered four
government critics facing criminal defamation charges to be released on
bail on Tuesday ``as a gift'' to the United States, which had attacked the
arrests.

However, a spokesman said Hun Sen, the former Khmer Rouge soldier who has
run Cambodia for the last two decades, would not drop the charges, which
have intensified fears that the southeast Asian nation is sliding from
fledgling democracy to dictatorship.

``Prime Minister Hun Sen is aware of those concerns and to demonstrate his
compassion, he is sending a letter to the court ordering that those being
detained are released on bail,'' spokesman Om Yentieng told reporters.

``But they must turn up at the court when the trial happens,'' he quoted
Hun Sen as saying.

His unexpected gesture came during a meeting with Christopher Hill, the
U.S. assistant secretary of state for East Asia and the Pacific, who was in
Phnom Penh to mark the opening of a new embassy compound.

``This is a gift for Mr. Christopher on the day of the inauguration of the
new embassy,'' Om Yentieng said.

``LONG LIVE DEMOCRACY''

Chanting ``Long live democracy,'' hundreds of supporters gathered outside
Phnom Penh's Prey Sar prison for the release of Kem Sokha, a vocal Hun Sen
critic and head of the Cambodian Center for Human Rights (CCHR), and his
deputy, Pa Nguon Teang.

Both men were charged with defamation -- a crime which carries up to a year
in jail -- in connection with a banner at a December human rights rally
that said Hun Sen was a communist and a traitor who sold off land to
neighboring Vietnam.

The other two released were Beehive radio station owner Mam Sonando, who
was arrested for airing comments on a border deal Hun Sen signed with Hanoi
in October, and teachers' union head Rong Chhun, who also commented on the
frontier pact.

Immediately after their release, the four men, adorned with garlands, went
to the headquarters of the U.S.-funded CCHR for a 1,000-strong celebration
and Buddhist thanksgiving ceremony.

``They can detain us physically but they can never detain our conscience,''
Kem Sokha told the cheering crowd through a loudspeaker.

Another human rights worker affiliated with the CCHR, Yeng Vireak, was
released on bail last week.

Washington led a chorus of international disapproval of the arrests, which
came shortly after an 18-month jail sentence was handed down in absentia to
opposition leader Sam Rainsy, who is in self-imposed exile after losing his
parliamentary immunity.

Sam Rainsy had accused Hun Sen of trying to assassinate him in a 1997
grenade attack on an opposition rally that killed at least 16 people.

Hill said he hoped Hun Sen's gesture would lead to an improvement in Phnom
Penh's tense political atmosphere.

``It's a very welcome step and we hope this will create the momentum for
additional steps,'' he told reporters.[End]