Former RFA reporter in Cambodia loses appeal to ­­­­­­­­­­­have passport returned

 

by Khmer Circle:

 

This little, "tiny" nation called Cambodia internationally had once been a vast "mighty" empire, covering almost a million square kms, including all of present-day Thailand, Laos, about one-third of present-day Vietnam and had built a civilisation that ranks among the greatest and most distinguished in human history; a legacy that still draws millions of travelers and visitors each year.

 

The reasons as to why that empire declined - and continues to decline - is still a matter for debate among historians and lay observers alike. But, it is interesting to note that while this ancient nation keeps disintergrating and losing territory accentuated in the main by a failed national leadership, civil wars and expantionist ambitions of immediate neighbours, the current one-man regime is doing its level best, not to arrest the general decline and restore rational political order or functionality as desperately needed by the country's people, but to stifle and suffocate their best impulses and intentions, going as far as silencing constructive voices and movements in every domain of society, including harmless users of Facebook posting light-hearted comments on aspects of their lives. 

 

Imagine, however, if such methodical sanctions, meticulousnes and measures had been applied instead against those same ambitious designs of neighbours. For an example, hundreds of Khmer farmers and their families have been forcibly evicted from their ancestral lands and villages along the border with Vietnam within the lasr four decades or so; border politice stations and posts have been erected along the same border by Vietnam, many of which on lands where Khmer farmers have been evicted from or have not been delineated between the two countries while Cambodian border guards continue to squad in their ramshackle tents and huts in the same area and border critics have been imprisoned and banned from even speaking publicly about this issue.

 

Whether the Cambodian regime and its one-man leadership is doing all this for its own political self-preservation or out of strictly personal greed and motives, it is beyond doubt who is the biggest beneficiary, reaping the biggest rewards just as it is crystal clear who are the biggest victims and casualties of the same self-destructive myopic national leadership. 

 

^^^       

Yeang Sothearin has been ‘under investigation’ since his arrest in 2017.

By RFA Khmer
2022.06.30
 

Former RFA reporters, Yeang Sothearin (right) and Uon Chhin (left) stand in front of the appeals court June 30, 2022 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia
citizen journalist

 

An appellate court in the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh upheld a lower court’s decision not to return the passport of Yeang Sothearin, citing an ongoing investigation into the former RFA editor and reporter, he told RFA.

 Yeang Sothearin, who also worked as a news anchor for RFA’s Khmer Service, was taken into custody in November 2017 along with Uon Chhin, who was an RFA photographer and videographer.

They were charged with “illegally collecting information for a foreign source” after RFA closed its bureau in the capital in September that year amid a government crackdown on independent media. They have since been charged with additional crimes.

If convicted of the first charge, they could face a jail term of between seven and 15 years. They remain out on bail but in legal limbo after a series of appeals have been rejected by courts.

Yeang Sothearin said the court’s decision would prevent him from visiting his ailing father, an ethnic Cambodian living in southern Vietnam, or participating in NGO activities outside of Cambodia.

“I told the court that it has been five years, it is a long time and I don’t know when it will end,” Yeang Sothearin told RFA’s Khmer Service.

“There is no indication from the judge of when the investigation will end and they won’t tell me when my passport will be returned, so how can I live? I will use my rights to demand [my passport],” he said.

He said that he will appeal again by taking the case to Cambodia’s Supreme Court.

The decision not to return the passport violates Yeang Sothearin’s rights because the case has been delayed for many years and has not yet reached conclusion, Ny Sokha, president of the Cambodian Human Rights and Development Association (Adhoc) told RFA.

He said the delay affects both Yeang Sothearin and Uon Chhin.

“We don’t see any indication that they want to avoid the court or flee overseas. They have houses here and they want the freedom to travel to make a living. I don’t see any reason to restrict their freedom,” he said.

Translated by Samean Yun. Written in English by Eugene Whong