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Saturday 13 June 2009

Cambodian government takes legal action against a pro-government newspaper


Source: Deum Ampil newspaper
Reported in English by Khmerization

The Cambodian government has on 9th June taken legal action against the biggest and pro-government newspaper in Cambodia, reports Deum Ampil.

According to Deum Ampil, Mr. Duong Loeung, a lawyer representing the government has lodged a lawsuit with the Phnom Penh Court against the Reaksmei Kampuchea Daily, Cambodia's biggest newspaper and ardent supporter of the ruling Cambodian People Party (CPP).

The reasons for the lawsuit against Reaksmei Kampuchea are not known as details of the suit have been kept secret with court officials refusing to give out the details and Mr. Duong Loeung cannot be contacted for comments. However, recently, the government has lodged a defamation lawsuit against Mr. Moeung Son, president of the Khmer Civilisation Foundation, in relation to his accusations that the government allowed the walls of Angkor Wat to be damaged when it ordered the installations of lights on the temple walls.

Mr. Sok Kalyan, the court deputy prosecutor, refused to say what the government was suing the newspaper about, but only said that the suit is a very complex case. He said: "I have not proceeded with this case yet. This suit is very complex and so I wish not to make any comments yet."

Mr. Pen Samithy, editor-in chief of Reaksmei Kampuchea, told Deum Ampil that he was not aware of the government's suit against his newspaper. He said: "I don't know anything...what do they sue us for?"

Sources close to the government said that the government did not sue the newspaper or the editor-in chief, but it is suing one of the newspaper's writers/reporters.

The same sources also said that another major broadsheet daily newspaper had also been sued by the government, but this news has not been made public by the government yet.

In recent weeks, the Cambodian government has taken a series of legal actions against many opposition politicians, executives of some NGOs as well as opposition newspapers, including the outspoken Khmer Mchas Srok daily.

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