Ex-CNRP activist retried with incitement

 

Buth Reaksmey Kongkea  

Phnom Penh Municipal Court yesterday retried a former elected commune chief of the former Cambodian National Rescued Party (CNRP) in connection with inciting the people to go against the authorities and overthrow the government via Facebook committed between 2018 and 2021. 

Judge Chum Sangva named the accused as Kem Tola, 47, the former Chief of Treng rayoeng commune from the former CNRP’s quota living in Kampong Speu province’s Phnom Srouch district,  Treng Trayoeng commune.

Judge Sangva said that Tola was sentenced in absentia on August 10, 2022 by the Phnom Penh Municipal Court to 18 months  in prison with incitement  and the court had also issued a warrant for her arrest. 

She stated that Tola’s conviction was linked to Lanh Thavry and Mich Heang ( former CNRP activists) for writing the Facrbook post badly insulted His Majesty the King and the Prime Minister Hun Sen over the border issues and the Victory over genocide Day in 2019.  

She added that after her arrest, Tola sued against her absentia -conviction and asked the court for her retrial. 

According to the facts of the case which was yesterday read by the hearing clerk, Thavry had on January 7, 2019, posted on Facebook: “that was the day our Khmer people fell into the hands of Vietnam (under Vietnamese control) because Hun Sen was a Vietnamese puppet for 40 years”.  

“On January 28, 2019, Thavry wrote: “the dictator’s order is to shoot, kill or arrest or destroy their opponents in order to keep the peace for “Hun” family (or dynasty) and their allies. 

“On February 22, 2019, Thavry wrote: “Hun Sen is the leader who has the highest will to serve foreign interests: China and Vietnam. Hun Sen never think of the interests of the Cambodian people.” 

“On May 20, 2019, she wrote ‘stand up with the CNRP and all our patriotic heroes to fight for the change of our poor Cambodia from the dictatorship! Bravo! Immortal Cambodia’,” the judge said.

Judge Sona said on September 14, 2019, Mich Heang wrote on Facebook that “Kings, like ordinary people, are strong and weak.” 

“Comparing the latest king and the current king is as different as heaven and earth. King Sihanouk was the last king to protect the weak people suffering from the injustice of the dictatorship or the rich people (capitalists).” 

“But if we look at the king today, we see that he did not come forward to help protect the people who are suffering from injustices, such as the seizure of houses or land or the arrest of Cambodians who dare to demand justice from the authorities.

“The king today does not open his eyes to see the suffering of the people. 

“On December 20, 2019, Heang wrote: “The king issued a royal decree to give land to Vietnam. Therefore, every Khmer must wake up! Otherwise, our Cambodia will be lost.” 

Thavry and Heang’s Facebook postings were shared by Kem Tola and other four accused who are at large and that the postings were viewed by hundreds of thousands of Facebook readers. 

At yesterday’s hearing, Tola who presented at the courtroom, denied the allegations, saying that she was only the victim of accusations. 

Tola told the court that since the CNRP was dissolved by the Supreme Court in 2018, she became an ordinary person and  grocery vendor.

She said that since then she had never been involved with any former CNRP’s president Sam Rainsy or other former CNRP officials living in exile abroad. 

Tola said that he had her personal account named “Kim Toal”.  And she knew Thavry on Facebook only because she is  one of  her Facebook friends.

She said that but she had never clicked a “like” or “share” her Facebook post.  

She added that she did not know Mich Heang and relate with other accused who are at large.

Tola said that in 2021, she was arrested and was later convicted by the Kampong Speu provincial court to 1 year in prison over the allegation of “ “incitement to commit a felony”.   

She said that appealed it to the Phnom Penh Appeal Court and the Phnom Penh Appeal Court had reduced her sentence from a year to only three months and 20 days, the rest of her sentence had been suspended. 

She added that she was later released from the prison after she had served her jail term of three months and 20 days  in the prison at the end of 2021. 

“My 18-month-absentia-conviction is very injustice because I was innocent and  did not commit anything as accused,” she said. 

“I would like to ask the judge to annul my 18-months-sentence-conviction, drop my charge and release me from the prison,” she added. 

According to the court’s document yesterday obtained by the Khmer Times, the Phnom Penh Municipal Court on August 10, 2022 sentenced seven former CNRP activists to imprisonment from 18 months to three years in prison each in connection with inciting the people to go against the authorities, overthrow the government and insulting the King via Facebook committed between 2018 and 2021. 

The seven accused included five men- Long Ry, Men Thavarin, Morn Phalla, Monh Sarath, and Mich Heang – and two women - Kem Tola, and Lanh Thavry.

Among them, LanhThavry, a former CNRP’s Russei Krork commune chief (in Banteay Meanchey provice’s Mongkul Borei district), was sentenced by the court to 18 months in prison  with “incitement to commit a felony” under Articles 494 and 495 of the Criminal Code while the accused Mich Heang, a labourer, was sentenced to  3 years in prison with “incitement to commit a felony and insulting the King” under Articles 494, 495 and 437 of the Criminal Code. 

Other five accused namely Long Ry, Men Thavarin, Morn Phalla, Monh Sarath, and Kem Tola, who had been at large, were also sentenced in absentia by the court to 18 months in prison each with “incitement to commit a felony”. 

The municipal court also issued their arrest warrants and ordered police to search for them and bring them to serve the term of their sentence as judgment.  

A verdict is due on February 27. /END//