{"id":41055,"date":"2019-10-03T07:22:20","date_gmt":"2019-10-03T07:22:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=41055"},"modified":"2019-10-03T07:22:20","modified_gmt":"2019-10-03T07:22:20","slug":"never-ending-cambodia-spy-case-journalists-face-new-probe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=41055","title":{"rendered":"‘Never-ending’: Cambodia spy case journalists face new probe"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Phnom Penh, Cambodia\u00a0<\/strong>– A two-year-old espionage case against two Cambodian journalists has been extended yet again, after a Phnom Penh judge on Thursday ordered a reinvestigation claiming there was not enough evidence for him to deliver a verdict.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Former Radio Free Asia (RFA) reporters Uon Chhin and Yeang Sothearin were a<\/span>rrested in a late-night raid in November 2017, during which\u00a0police found standard reporting equipment like computers and phones.<\/p>\n

They were accused of supplying information to a foreign state, a charge that carries a prison term of between seven and 15 years, and held in detention for nine months before being allowed bail.<\/p>\n

The two were expecting a decision – already delayed from August – on Thursday.<\/p>\n

Instead, Judge Im Vannak told the court that there \u201cwasn\u2019t enough evidence to prove, or an expert to verify, that the equipment was used to commit a crime.”\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

He recommended the case be \u201creinvestigated\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The decision prompted angry reactions from the defendants and human rights monitors, who argued that if there was not enough evidence, the charges should simply be dropped.<\/span><\/p>\n

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\"Cambodia<\/div>\n

Yeang Sothearin with his family outside court in Phnom Penh at a previous hearing. He and Uon Chhin were jailed for nine months before the trial even started in a case human rights groups say should never have made it to the courts. [Andrew Nachemson\/Al Jazeera]<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Crackdown on critics<\/h2>\n

Outside the court, Chhin expressed his disappointment.<\/p>\n

\u201cI expected everything would be clear today, black and white, and we could plan for our future,” he said.<\/p>\n

“I hoped Sothearin and I would get justice as we have been waiting so long,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Chak Sopheap, director of the Cambodian Center for Human Rights, attended the hearing and afterwards said the decision was \u201cdisappointing\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is the judge\u2019s responsibility to find the evidence that the suspects are guilty or not, but if they can\u2019t find evidence, they must drop the charges against them,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

RFA, which is funded by the government of the United States, closed its operations in\u00a0Cambodia<\/a>\u00a0in September 2017, citing an inability to work under oppressive conditions.<\/p>\n

Prime Minister Hun Sen, who has ruled for more than 30 years, has cracked down on the media and opposition, accusing his critics of plotting a US-backed colour revolution.<\/p>\n

During the trial both men said they had sent information to RFA headquarters in Washington, DC after the station had closed down in Cambodia. Both denied that this constituted espionage.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Cambodia’s opposition leaders in exile to return<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n

Judge Vannak said some of the evidence wasn\u2019t clear – like why Chhin contacted somebody at the US embassy, for example. The embassy official in question was a public affairs officer whose job was to\u00a0 communicate with journalists.\u00a0<\/p>\n

International human rights monitors have closely followed the case, including the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, which found that the initial arrest was arbitrary and violated freedom of expression.<\/p>\n

Phil Robertson, deputy director of Human Rights Watch\u2019s Asia division, called today\u2019s decision \u201cludicrous\u201d and \u201cvindictive\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThis case was politically manufactured from the start and the judge\u2019s admission there is no real evidence should have prompted the dismissal of the case, not a re-investigation which will plunge these journalists back into a never-ending nightmare,\u201d he said in an email to Al Jazeera.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Trade privileges at risk<\/h2>\n

The trial is part of a broader crackdown on Cambodia\u2019s media, which saw dozens of independent radio stations shut down, and the two main independent newspapers closed or sold to pro-government owners.<\/p>\n

Ear Sophal, a Cambodian-American associate professor of diplomacy and world affairs at Occidental College in the US, said the Cambodian government was trying to \u201cthread the needle\u201d by not declaring the men guilty or innocent.<\/p>\n

He said they might fear an international backlash over a guilty verdict, but would \u201close face\u201d if charges were dropped.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Sophal said the Cambodian government could also be trying to avoid angering the European Union<\/a>, as it considers cancelling<\/a> its preferential trade deal, known as Everything But Arms, amid concerns about human rights violations.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt could be the EBA situation where they know if they take a step across that line their fate is sealed,\u201d Sophal said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Please do not play with our justice<\/p>\n

Yeang Sothearin<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Both Sophal and Robertson said the decision was a form of harassment meant to scare the defendants and other journalists in the country.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is part of the whole structure they employ to intimidate people,\u201d Sophal said.<\/p>\n

The decision leaves the men in anxious limbo with the possibility of a long-term prison sentence. Certain freedoms are also restricted, like their ability to leave the country.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not worried about the investigation, as I didn\u2019t do anything wrong,\u201d said Sothearin, who has been unable to visit his parents who live in Vietnam.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cFreedom is important for all people, especially us as journalists,\u201d Sothearin said, explaining that the endless trial impacts their ability to work, and is harmful to the mental health of both men and their families.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cPlease do not play with our justice,\u201d Sothearin said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Phnom Penh, Cambodia\u00a0– A two-year-old espionage case against two Cambodian journalists has been extended yet again, after a Phnom Penh judge on Thursday ordered a reinvestigation claiming there was not enough evidence for him to deliver a verdict.\u00a0 Former Radio Free Asia (RFA) reporters Uon Chhin and Yeang Sothearin were arrested in a late-night raid…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":41056,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-41055","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-middle_east_news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41055","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=41055"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41055\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/41056"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=41055"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=41055"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=41055"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}