Cambodian supporters of Mam Sonando, one of Cambodia’s most prominent
human rights defenders, protest in front of the Phnom Penh Municipal
Court, in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Monday, Oct. 1, 2012. Some 300
supporters gathered to demand the release of local radio station owner
Mam Sonando, who is accused of leading a secession, and has been held in
pre-trial detention for almost two months. His verdict is scheduled to
be announced at the court on Monday. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith
Photo: AP
/ AP
AFP & ABC
Updated October 1
A prominent critic of Cambodia's government has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for an alleged secessionist plot, dismaying rights
campaigners who say the verdict is politically motivated.
Radio
station owner Mam Sonando was also fined 10 million riel ($2,500) by a a
Phnom Penh court which convicted him on charges including insurrection
and inciting people to take up arms against the state.
He is considered by Amnesty International to be a prisoner of conscience.
The
71-year-old, who was arrested in July, was accused of involvement in an
alleged plot to establish an autonomous region in eastern Kratie
province.
Rights groups have called the accusations baseless and
said the government was seeking to justify its harsh crackdown on a land
dispute there in May, when a teenage girl was shot dead by security
forces clashing with demonstrators.
"Our court has announced a
verdict that is politically motivated," the president of the Cambodian
Centre for Human Rights, Ou Virak, told AFP. "There's no evidence that
Mam Sonando has committed these offences."
Amnesty International researcher Rupert Abbott called the verdict "absolutely outrageous".
Sonando,
who heads the campaign group the Association of Democrats and whose
station broadcasts programmes critical of the government, was jailed for
peacefully exercising his right to freedom of expression, Abbott said.
"We consider Mam Sonando to be a prisoner of conscience and will be campaigning for his release," he told AFP.
Several
hundred people gathered outside the courthouse to show their support
for Sonando, although they were kept some distance away by the police.
As he was led into a waiting vehicle after the verdict, Sonando told reporters: "I am happy that I have helped the nation."
His wife Din Phanara told the media they would appeal the sentence.
Sonando,
owner of the independent Beehive station, was arrested previously in
2003 and 2005 for his political activities and defaming Prime Minister
Hun Sen's government.
The 61-year-old strongman has ruled Cambodia since 1985 and has vowed to remain in power until he is 90 years old.
Activists
say land conflicts are Cambodia's most pressing human rights issue.
Protests have intensified this year and campaigners say the authorities
are increasingly cracking down on dissent.
5 comments:
it was fair verdict 20yrs in jailed
u can F__OFF! poster 12:44 AM
don't get mad - get even ..
indeed, u had the rights to express ur self.
2 October 2012 1:36 AM and 2 October 2012 12:44 AM, you and your family members will be kicked out of Cambodia as soon as possible. It takes time for all innocents Cambodian people to see whether the stupid Yuon/Vietcong CPP dogs wake up or not. One day, innocent Cambodian people are fed up and will gather millions of them just like Syrian people. The country of Cambodia will be messed up again and the country will go backward. You Dumb CPP dogs or Dumbo wake up.
Yuon/Vietnamese masters in Hanoi and their Yuon puppet Hun Sen will not be forgiven and tolerated.
There will be millions of innocent Vietnamese people will rise up as well against their stupid leaders in Hanoi because they have been suffering greatly enough and beyond. You should know there will be life or death among Vietnam country. You Dumbo, just shut your f**k up.
Madam Secretary of States, Ms. Hillary Clinton and her undersecretaries of States should know that Vietnamese masters in Hanoi who have involved the crisis in Cambodian for more than 3 decades in the dirty political games and played the major roles to destroy Cambodia/Khmer Nation in order to erase the lies of their bad and disgusted Yuon behaviors and ill-intentions to slowly replace Yuon/Vietnamese folks (illegal Vietnamese settlers in Cambodia in every corners) and done the trick in the blind eyes of gullible innocent Khmer/Cambodian people, foreigners and International Communities in the world.
Hun Sen has been living in fear because of his Yuon/Vietnamese masters and now Hun Sen is a very wealthy because of the stolen properties, lands for sales, Yuon/Vietnamese business deals with corrupted CPP clans (Yuon-Khmer, Dumb leaders of CPP) and including Yuon-Chinese mixed thieves like Var Kim Hong, Yeay Phu, Lao Meng, and beyond. How much longer those Yuon thieves under the Hanoi Masters and Hanoi masters will continue to do this until the blames and pressures coming from the UN, EU leaders, the U.S., International Communities and innocent Khmer/Cambodian people.
Time will come to destroy Hanoi Masters before their Yuon Hanoi puppet Hun Sen who will be arrested and put him on trial both at the UN and Cambodian People Courts because of more than 3 decades of losses of international donors' money, assistance, and more.
Yes, Vietnamese masters will return everything that have been stolen from Cambodia and Cambodian/Khmer people to Hanoi or Vietnam to make their country become developed and economically successfully to compete with ASEAN countries and other countries like Japan, S. Korea, China during their control over their Yuon puppet Hun Sen.
Cambodia has everything and is a very rich with natural resources that is why the evil Vietnamese/Yuon masters in Hanoi saw the big opportunities to make big wealth and profit by getting rid of Mr. Penn Sovan (former PM) and installed Yuon Puppet/Slave Hun Sen be illegally unrecognized PM among Cambodian people and the world. They (Hanoi masters and Yuon/Vietnamese slave Hun Sen) are just the thieves.
What they want from Cambodia are the following:
1. Angkor Wat (Tourists pouring money in)
2. Forests/Trees (giants trees - 500 to more than 1000 years olds)
3. Fish productions
4. Oil and gas
5. Rubber plants
6. Rich soils for plants
7. and beyond.
That is why Cambodia country is not poor because of very rich natural resources comparing to Taiwan, S. Korea, Thailand, Malay, and so on.
Those f**kng Hanoi masters have oversaw things and want to steal everything from Cambodia by having Yuon/Vietnamese slave Hun Sen. You have seen the terrible situations in Cambodia. Yes, uneducated Khmer leaders (no High School diplomas or not done with High School) have been very easily targeted by Hanoi masters including evil Ho Chi Minh in order to brainwash those blind and uneducated Khmer peasants like Hun Sen and others to be manipulated and influenced before hurting his or their own Khmer people.
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