Pro-SRP editor and publisher questioned

Written by Chrann Chamroeun

Friday, 01 May 2009 Phnom Penh Post

THE publisher and editor-in-chief of The New Liberty News, a pro-Sam Rainsy Party newspaper, were questioned Thursday morning by Municipal Court Deputy Prosecutor Plang Sophal in connection with a defamation and false information case filed by the publisher of the pro-government newspaper Koh Santepheap. A March 10 article in The New Liberty News claimed that Koh Santepheap's publisher, Thong Uy Pang, and his wife were denied an entry visa to the United States in 2003 because American officials believed they were involved in human trafficking. "I was very angry and anxious about this article, which badly insulted me without accurate evidence and wrongly charged me with involvement in human trafficking," Thong Uy Pang told the Post Thursday. Sek Rady, editor-in-chief of The New Liberty News, stood by the story in an interview with the Post. "We had accurate evidence to support the story," he said. "At that time [the US embassy in Phnom Penh] did not accept his visa. The embassy considered him to be involved in human trafficking and put him on its black list." He said he had been told by Plang Sophal that the court was currently investigating the complaint, in which Thong Uy Pang is asking for US$100,000 in damages.