17 November 2017
- Two former Radio Free Asia reporters who were arrested on Tuesday now face spying charges, which carry a sentence of up to 15 years in prison.
Phnom Penh deputy municipal police chief Sim Vuthy said police found evidence related to the arrest and sent it to court on Wednesday.

“We have collected confessions, work materials and programmes that show they were working for RFA outside the country,” he said.
“They can face the charge of supplying a foreign state with information prejudicial to national defence.”

The former RFA staffers had earlier been accused of setting up an illegal radio station.

Uon Chhin and Yeang Sothearin were arrested at the Marady Hotel in Phnom Penh. Police confiscated several laptops and recording equipment.

[RFA spokesman]Mr Mahajan said RFA had yet to receive specific accusations from the Cambodian authorities, and was extremely worried by the unfolding events.
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/5090884/rfa ... e-charges/

Ex-Cambodia Daily journalist detained by police, but released


- Former Cambodia Daily journalist Len Leng was detained and questioned for nearly three hours at the Chaktomuk commune police station for allegedly not having a press pass as she observed the proceedings outside the court. This was despite a statement made by Phnom Penh Municipal Police Chief Chhoun Sovann earlier in the day that the trial was open to the public and security arrangements were only to protect from “terrorism issues”.

“People can go to the court and listen to a public trial and hearing. It was harassment and a threat to citizens,” Leng said after her release.
Phnom Penh Post

Dictatorship - Yesterday I noticed many pick-ups with mounted machineguns! Is this normal?

AndyKK wrote: ↑Fri Nov 17, 2017 12:52 pm Dictatorship - Yesterday I noticed many pick-ups with mounted machineguns! Is this normal?

The old normal ,,,, No.

The New normal ,,, maybe yes.

Bail hearing set for jailed RFA reporters
7 March 2018
The Supreme Court has scheduled a bail hearing for two former reporters with Radio Free Asia, who remain jailed on espionage charges for allegedly sending reports to the United States.

The former reporters, Uon Chhin and Yeang Sothearin, were arrested in Phnom Penh’s Marady Hotel on November 14 and accused of espionage.

They are currently being detained at Prey Sar prison pending their trial.

Ouk Kimsith, deputy prosecutor general of the Supreme Court, said a bail hearing for the pair has been set for March 16.

In December, the Court of Appeal denied bail for the two reporters, who face up to 15 years in prison after being arrested with broadcasting equipment authorities say was being used to make reports to the United States.
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/50112238/ba ... reporters/

Former RFA journalist in court over possible pornography charges
8 March 2018
Imprisoned Radio Free Asia reporter Yeang Sothearin was questioned yesterday at the Phnom Penh Municipal Court in relation to possible pornography charges.

Sothearin and his former RFA colleague Oun Chhin were charged with “espionage” in Novemberafter being accused of attempting to continue reporting after RFA shut down its operations in Cambodia. RFA voluntarily shuttered during a crackdown on independent media that saw a slew of its broadcast stations taken off the air.

Shortly after the two journalists were arrested, images were leaked to pro-government media, purportedly showing Chhin filming and participating in a sex act. Government mouthpiece Fresh News reported the images were discovered on a computer found during a police raid on a property the pair had rented. In the images seen by The Post, the man could not be conclusively identified as Chhin.

Producing pornography is punishable by a one-year jail sentence and a 2 million riel (about $500) fine. Possessing pornography with the intent to distribute carries a maximum jail sentence of one month and a $50 fine.
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/f ... hy-charges

RFA journo rubbishes spy claims
02 April 2018 | 06:41 ICT
Embattled Radio Free Asia journalist Chun Chanboth has confirmed the authenticity of a leaked conversation with General Mao Sophan while contesting the skewed interpretation of the recordings by government mouthpiece Fresh News and Prime Minister HE.

Since early March, short clips of Chanboth’s 2017 meeting with the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces general have been trickling out on Fresh News in an attempt, Chanboth believes, to paint him as a Cambodian government spy.

While Chanboth on Saturday confirmed the authenticity of the leaks, released as of Sunday in five short clips, he said that they had been spliced in sections.
https://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/ ... spy-claims

1 June 2018
- A Phnom Penh Municipal Court investigating judge yesterday [31 May 2018] informed two former Radio Free Asia reporters that they were not being detained on production of pornography charges, which were laid atop initial espionage charges.

Former reporters Uon Chhin and Yeang Sothearin were jailed last year after being arrested in Phnom Penh’s Marady Hotel on November 14 and accused of espionage for sending reports to the United States.

In March, the court also charged them with the production of pornography and yesterday they were summoned to answer questions over the new charges.

However, court spokesman Suos Vithyearandy said after the questioning that Investigating Judge Pech Vicheathor informed the two men that they were no longer being detained on the pornography charges, leading their lawyer to say that the charges should be immediately dropped.

On May 20, the municipal court extended the pre-trial detention of the two journalists by another six months to continue investigations over the espionage charges.
https://www.khmertimeskh.com/50495990/r ... e-dropped/

RFA ‘spies’ released on bail
22 August 2018 | 08:09 ICT
The Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Tuesday freed on bail, two former Radio Free Asia (RFA) reporters, who were charged with espionage.

Oun Chhin, 49, and Yeang Sochea Meta (Sothearin), 35, were arrested by the Meanchey district authorities on November 14, last year, and spent eight months in Prey Sar Prison.

Sothearin and Oun Chhin were arrested on suspicion of filing stories for the Washington-based radio station.

The Phnom Penh Municipal Court sentenced them to jail on two charges –“espionage under Article 445 of the Criminal Code” and an additional charge of “producing pornography”.

They were held under pre-trial detention, and if convicted, could face a 15-year jail term for supplying information to foreign agencies, which undermines national security.

The two RFA Khmer Service reporters joined a list of activists who were released in recent days, including social analyst Kim Sok on August 17 and Tep Vanny, the Boeung Kak land activist on August 20.
https://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/ ... eased-bail

Freedom of speech at it's best. Telling the facts suppressed. Welcome to KOW