The Ministry of Information and two journalist associations have joined forces to
ask that robbery charges pressed against two editors of the Bakong daily newspaper
be dropped.
Bakong editors Nem Bunhout and Phon Sophal were arrested on April 29 for an alleged
extortion attempt against the owners of the Indochina Food Company (IFC). The two
reportedly demanded $500 to suppress a damaging article about the company.
"We wrote to [IFC] to rescind their original complaint [of robbery]," MoI
Secretary of State Khieu Kanharith said. "That's something that the [MoI] can
do to help journalists."
The two journalists are being charged with robbery and extortion under Article 34
of the Untac penal code, which mandates prison sentences of 3-10 years. A May 9 joint
statement from the Ministry of Information, the League of Cambodian Journalists and
the Cambodian Journalists Club urged that the robbery charges be dropped and that
the two men be released on bail.
Om Chandara, President of the Cambodian League of Journalists, described the charges
against Bunhout and Sophal as the result of a conspiracy between the IFC and corrupt
government officials.
"I think this is a trick by the government officials and the company owners
to hide their scandal," Chandara said of the charges against the two journalists.
"The arrest is designed to intimidate journalists and to put pressure on the
free press when journalists uncover scandals."
Chandara said the scandal involved unspecified illegal collusion between IFC management
and officials in the Ministry of Rural Development.
A lawyer for the two arrested journalists, Nou Tepirith, told the Post that the charges
against the two were spurious, as they were based on a simple "business agreement"
between the two parties.
"There was no robbery because the owner of [IFC] made a phone call to the journalists
to come to the restaurant to get money and all the currency note registration numbers
were recorded," Nou said. "I have asked the investigating judge to lift
the robbery charge."
Sam Rithy Duong Hak, Vice President of the Cambodian Association for Protection of
Journalists, said the reporters could not be supported if they had used their profession
to extort money.
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