Rights group calls for release of Cambodian activist

Monsters and critics
Jul 15, 2011,

Phnom Penh (DPA)- An international rights group called Friday for the release of a Cambodian human rights activist currently in prison for 'peaceful political expression.'

Leang Sokchouen (pictured in prison uniform), a member of the Cambodian League for the Promotion and Defence of Human Rights, had his two-year jail sentence upheld on appeal Thursday.

On August 30, Leang was convicted of disinformation in connection with the distribution of anti-government leaflets in the country's southern province of Takeo in January.

In a statement Friday, the US-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) said the charge against the activist was changed to incitement during the appeal - a charge that did not exist at the time of the alleged crime.

It said the trial violated free trial standards and demonstrated the 'politicization and incompetence' of the court system.

'Sokchouen should never have been charged in the first place, but to have the charges changed on appeal with no opportunity to challenge them sets a new standard for arbitrariness,' HRW's Asia director Brad Adams said in the statement. 'The government should immediately drop the charges and release him.'

Phay Siphan, a spokesman for the Cambodian Council of Ministers, dismissed the accusations, saying the country's courts worked in the interests of all Cambodians.

'If someone doesn't like the judgement, they have the right to file it to another level, to the Supreme Court,' he said.

The claim that the courts were political was 'unfair' and 'groundless,' Phay Siphan said.

In recent years, Cambodia has come under increased pressure from rights watchdogs, who say Prime Minister Hun Sen's government has used the court system as a tool to muzzle opposition politicians and other figures.

Opposition leader Sam Rainsy currently lives in exile, facing a total of 12 years jail for accusing the government of ceding land to Vietnam.