Cambodia: Independent radio director released after 7 months imprisonment
Event- Country
- Cambodia
- Initial Date
- Jul 15, 2012
- Final Date
- Mar 15, 2013
- Event Description
On 15 July 2013, Mam Sonando, director of Beehive Radio, a independent radio station in Cambodia , was arrested and later formally charged with "insurrection" and "inciting people to take up weapons against state". The charges carried a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison. In mid-2012, Beehive Radio reported on an International Court of Justice complaint against Prime Minister Hun Sen blaming him for the 2010 Phnom Penh stampede, in which 347 people were killed. On 26 June 2012, Hun Sen called for Sonando's arrest while Sonando was out of the country, accusing him of heading a separatist plot in Krati_ Province to break it away from the rest of the nation. On 1 October 2012, Mam Sonando was found guilty by a Phnom Penh court. He was sentenced to twenty years' imprisonment and fined 10 million riel (US$2,500). An appeals court overturned Sonando's conviction on anti-state charges on 14 March 2013, finding that there had been no evidence to convict him. However, the Appeals Court still finds him guilty of instigating villagers to destroy state land, giving him a five-year suspended sentence. On 15 March 2013, Mam Sonando was released from prison.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Violation
- Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Right to information
- Right to political participation
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Not active
- Event Location
Latitude: 12.86063
Longitude: 105.96999
- Event Location
- Summary for Publications
05/03/2013 - Mam Sonando - A court appeal process has started in the case of Mam Sonando, a director of an independent radio station in Cambodia. He has been charged with plotting to establish an autonomous region in eastern Kratie province. Mr Sonando denies these charges which appear to be politically motivated.