Fear Among Journalists Hindering Freedom: Analysts

 Monday, 25 April 2011
Sok Khemara, VOA Khmer | Washington, DC

Photo: Courtesy of Freedom House President George W. Bush takes a question from the audience at Freedom House, Wednesday, March 29, 2006 in Washington, DC

As Washington prepares for a series of events to mark World Press Freedom Day next month, Cambodian journalists and media analysts say heavy restrictions on media remain.

The US will host the Unesco-supported event from May 1 to May 3, in a number of functions that focus on 21^st Century media and its challenges, especially in social media.

Cambodia, meanwhile, continues to struggle with traditional media rights.

Manlius doctor in Cambodian prison facing sex charge

Dr. James D'Agostino (left), 56, a pediatric emergency doctor at Upstate Medical University in Syracuse, was arrested Feb. 16 and charged in the Phnom Penh municipal court with purchasing child prostitution. He's shown here treating a baby in a hospital in Cambodia where he volunteered

Updated: Sunday, April 24, 2011, 11:29 AM
By James T. Mulder / The Post-Standard 

Nicholas Lisi/The Post-Standard, file photo, 1997 Dr. James D'Agostino, 56, is a pediatric emergency doctor at Upstate Medical University in Syracuse. He was suspended in March.

Syracuse, N.Y. — A Manlius doctor who traveled to Cambodia two years ago to volunteer at a children’s hospital is being held in a Phnom Penh prison on a charge he had sexual contact with a 14-year-old boy.

Dr. James D’Agostino, 56, a pediatric emergency doctor at Upstate Medical University in Syracuse, was arrested Feb. 16 and charged in the Phnom Penh municipal court with purchasing child prostitution.

Duch Kim Sorn is an investigating judge for that court. D’Agostino could be held up to six months while the court reviews the case before deciding if it goes to trial, Sorn told an Associated Press reporter asking on behalf of The Post-Standard.

If convicted, D’Agostino could face seven to 15 years in prison under Cambodian law.

Pek Vannak, a lawyer representing D’Agostino, said the doctor flatly denies the charges. “He told me that it was a big mistake,” Vannak told the AP reporter in Cambodia asking on behalf of The Post-Standard.

D’Agostino came to Upstate in 1992 to do a fellowship and was appointed an assistant professor in 1994.

Darryl Geddes, an Upstate spokesman, said the academic medical center has had no direct contact with D’Agostino since his arrest. Upstate placed D’Agostino on leave without pay March 3, the date he was expected to return to work, according to Geddes.

Asean frustrated in bid to solve dispute

• Published: 26/04/2011 at 12:00 AM
• Bangkok Post

Marty: Unexpectedly cancelled trip

Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa’s abrupt decision not to visit Cambodia and Thailand yesterday clearly indicates the Asean chair’s efforts to resolve the border problem between the two countries have so far been frustrated.

Mr Marty was scheduled to visit Cambodia first and then fly on to Thailand to discuss the final draft of the terms of reference (TOR) on placing Indonesian observers in the disputed area on the Thai-Cambodian border.

A government source said Mr Marty told Thai officials that he had “rescheduled” rather than “cancelled” the trip.

Prayuth: Army will follow govt orders

• Published: 25/04/2011 at 03:46 PM
• Bangkok Post

The government will decide whether to go to war with Cambodia over the disputed border, and the army is ready to follow orders from the government, national army chief Prayuth Chan-ocha said on Monday.

However, he believed there should be bilateral meetings, not a war, because people from both sides were being hurt by the conflict, Gen Prayuth said.

“If Cambodia doesn’t want to negotiate, then it will not be necessary for us to negotiate either,” the army chief said.

Thai troops sent to the border area had not retreated, and had retaliated in kind.

“The Foreign Ministry, the Defence Ministry and the Thai armed forces don’t agree with having third-party observers in the disputed border area, but if it is required there must be regulations to cover it and all troops from the two countries must move out of the area.

“I don’t think there is any country that wants foreign troops to invade its territory, and it is not necessary to have  third-party observers at this time,” Gen Prayuth added.

Cambodian, Thai troops exchange gunfire at border area for 4th day

Cambodian soldiers gesture as they ride a truck in Oddar Meanchey province, 20 km (12 miles) from the Cambodia-Thai border April 25, 2011. Thailand’s foreign minister called on Monday for one-on-one talks with Cambodia after three days of jungle clashes that killed at least 12 people and sent thousands into evacuation centres in the bloodiest border conflict in nearly two decades. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo)

Cambodian soldiers ride a truck near the disputed border area between Cambodian andThailand April 25, 2011. (Xinhua/AFP Photo)

PHNOM PENH, April 25 (Xinhua) — Cambodian and Thai troops exchanged gunfire in the disputed border area for the fourth consecutive day on Monday.

Thai troops fired artillery shell into Cambodian territory over the disputed border area at the Ta Moan temple in Oddar Meanchey province on Monday afternoon, the spokesman said.

“At 1: 45 p.m. Thai forces had fired six rounds of artillery at the area near Ta Moan temple,” Lieutenant General Chhum Socheat, the spokesman for Cambodian Ministry of Defense, told Xinhua by telephone.

Cambodian troops claimed 3 Thai F-16s launched attacks from the air against Cambodian troops

Col. Neak Vong giving interviews to journalists in 2008 at Ta Moan Thom temple as Thai troops look on in the background.

By Khmerization
Source: Koh Santepheap

Cambodian troops had heard loud explosions coming from three Thai fighter jets that were flying along the borderline where the fighting between Cambodian and Thai troops were taking place this afternoon. People and Cambodian troops said they had heard 6-8 explosions coming from the direction of the three planes that were flying over the area. They were sure that the explosions were the sound of the planes firing air-to-surface missiles against Cambodian ground troops. However, other people said they were just the sounds of fighter jets taking aerial photos.

Cambodian troops said at around 2 p.m today, Thai troops had increased their bombardments of the Cambodian positions and villages near Thmor Daun, Ta Krabey and Ta Moan temples.

Cambodian troops claimed that these fighter jets had fired missiles at Cambodian militarytrucks transporting food for troops, but missed when they were driven off the road and hid in the bush. Other sources said the loud noise coming from the directions of the planes was just the noise of the planes taking aerial photos, not the sound of rockets or missiles.

Mr. Neak Vong, deputy commander of 42nd Battalion, said he is investigating whether Thai fighter jets had really dropped bombs or fired missiles against Cambodian troops.

Thai-Cambodia border clashes raise diplomatic stakes

Regional diplomats stepped up efforts Monday to end the clashes along a disputed border between Thailand and Cambodia.

Thai soldiers, in red berets, train defense volunteers to use the shotguns at a village near the Thai-Cambodian border in Surin province, northeastern Thailand, on Monday, April 25. Cambodia accused Thailand of damaging two ancient temples during three days of border clashes that killed 12 people, as Southeast Asian diplomats struggled Monday to find a way to end the repeated deadly flare-ups AP

By Simon Montlake, Correspondent / April 25, 2011

Bangkok, Thailand

Diplomats are struggling to tamp down on four days of deadly firefights between Thai and Cambodian troops along their disputed land border. Repeated clashes between the two militaries, egged on by nationalist rhetoric from both sides, has thus far proven an intractable and embarrassing issue for Southeast Asia’s regional diplomatic body.

Army: Cambodia using human shields

• Published: 25/04/2011 at 06:07 PM
• Bangkok Post

Cambodian soldiers have brought women and children to the border, using them as a human shield against Thai forces, according to a report by the 2nd Army’s Suranaree Task Force.

The task forcereport said that about a week before the latest series of border clashes began in Surin on Friday,  Cambodian soldiers started to move  civilian families – mostly women and children – into seven spots:

1. 5 families to Sam Tae area;
2. 15 families to Ta Thao pass and Hill 400, where a military base is located;
3. 7 families to a community at the foot of the staircase to the Preah Vihear temple;
4. 8 families to a military base at Phu Makhua;
5. One family to the Phra Phalai pass;
6. 985 families to the Sa-ngam pass; and
7. 20 families to the Tamaria stream.

A source at the Suranaree Task Force said Cambodia is using the human shields to prevent Thai attacks.  If casualties are inflicted on these civilians, Cambodia could protest or condemn Thailand internationally, to raise the Thai-Cambodian conflict to the world forum.

Thai Military: Death Toll Rises In Thai-Cambodian Clashes

By the CNN Wire Staff
POSTED: 12:48 am PDT April 25, 2011

BANGKOK, Thailand (CNN) — Violent clashes over a disputed area along the Thai-Cambodian border erupted for a fourth consecutive day Monday, resulting in the death of a Thai soldier, a military official said.
Four other Thai soldiers have been killed since the fighting started on Friday, according to Col. Sansern Kaewkumnerd.
Authorities have evacuated thousands of people from nearby villages.

New jail term for Cambodian opposition leader

Sam Rainsy, who lives in France, now faces a total of 14 years in prison if he returns to Cambodia following a string of convictions that opponents say are politically motivated. -- ST PHOTO: STEPHANIE YEOW

PHNOM PENH – A CAMBODIAN court on Monday slapped exiled opposition leader Sam Rainsy with yet another two-year jail term, this time for accusing the foreign minister of being a former Khmer Rouge member.

Phnom Penh Municipal Court found the outspoken politician guilty in absentia of defamation and inciting discrimination for claiming in a 2008 speech that Hor Namhong once belonged to the blood-soaked communist movement.

Sam Rainsy, who lives in France, now faces a total of 14 years in prison if he returns to Cambodia following a string of convictions that opponents say are politically motivated.

‘The verdict is unjust,’ Sam Rainsy’s lawyer Choung Chou Ngy told AFP, adding that he will now discuss with his client whether to appeal the ruling.

Sam Rainsy was also ordered to pay eight million riel (S$2,600) in compensation to Hor Namhong.

In September 2010, the leader of the eponymous Sam Rainsy party was handed a 10-year sentence in absentia for publishing a false map of the border with Vietnam. — AFP

Cambodian court sentences opposition leader to 2 years in jail

Updated April 25, 2011 11:18 AM

PHNOM PENH (Xinhua) — The Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Monday sentenced the exiled opposition leader, Sam Rainsy, in absentia to 2 years in jail and fined 2,000 U.S. dollars for public defamation and inciting discrimination, according to the verdict.

The charges were brought under the new criminal code and stem from comments that Sam Rainsy, president of the Sam Rainsy Party, made the speech on April 17, 2008, saying that the current Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister Hor Namhong, minister of foreign affairs, was formerly the chief of Boeung Trabek prison in the Khmer Rouge regime.

New jail term for Cambodian opposition leader

AFP
Mon, Apr 25, 2011

PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA – A Cambodian court on Monday slapped exiled opposition leader Sam Rainsy with yet another two-year jail term, this time for accusing the foreign minister of being a former Khmer Rouge member.

Phnom Penh Municipal Court found the outspoken politician guilty in absentia of defamation and inciting discrimination for claiming in a 2008 speech that Hor Namhong once belonged to the blood-soaked communist movement.

Border closure costing traders dearly

• Published: 25/04/2011 at 02:09 PM
• Bangkok Post

Trade worth 15 to 20 million baht a day is being lost due to the closure of the Chong Chom border checkpoint in Kab Choeng district of Surin because of the renewed fighting on the border with Cambodia, a local business leader said on Monday.

A large quantity of good, particularly fuel,  was held up on the Thai side of the border unable to cross to its usual destination in O-Samet in Cambodia’s Oddar Meanchey province, said Nanthawat Kijsakulpaisarn, secretary-general of Surin Chamber of Commerce.

Cross-border trade at this checkpoint was worth some 800 million baht annually. The closure was costing  between 15 and 20 million baht a day in lost revenues, he said.

He called on the Thai and Cambodian governments to urgently hold talks to end the conflict.

The border crossing has been closed since Friday.

Cambodia says Thai shells damaged ancient temples

By SOPHENG CHEANG

Khem Sovannara / AP Cambodian armored vehicles stand by near the disputed border area between Cambodian and Thailand, in Ampel commune, Udor Meanchey province, some 325 kilometers (221 miles) northwest of Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Monday, April 25, 2011. Cambodia on Monday accused Thailand of damaging two ancient temples during three days of border clashes between the Southeast Asian neighbors that have left at least 12 soldiers dead. (AP Photo/Khem Sovannara, STR)

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — Cambodia accused Thailand of damaging two ancient temples during three days of border clashes that killed 12 people, as Southeast Asian diplomats struggled Monday to find a way to end the repeated deadly flare-ups.

Both sides faced off in armored vehicles across the disputed border Monday, but fighting appeared to have lulled. Thailand accused Cambodia’s army of firing artillery shells across the border but said Thai soldiers did not return fire. Cambodian officials denied any shelling.

BRAND CRISES Cambodia Border Issue Hits Thai Image

Posted: Mon 25 Apr, 2011 3:57 pm
Source: thephuketinsider

Last year we had the ‘red shirt’ debacle and now the international media is playing up a David versus Goliath passion play over the current border tensions.

As Cambodia is asking for United Nations and international intervention, the Thai messaging is coming out extremely negative and non conciliatory.

Cambodia accuses Thais of temple damage in clash

by Janesara Fugal 

AFP – Cambodian people who live near the Thai-Cambodia border and were evacuated after cross border fighting,

NONG KANNA, Thailand (AFP) – Cambodia accused Thailand on Monday of damaging ancient jungle temples at the centre of their bloodiest fighting since a bitter border dispute flared up almost three years ago.

Twelve soldiers have died and tens of thousands of villagers on both sides fled the artillery shelling, which shattered an informal ceasefire that had held since February when the UN Security Council called for a permanent truce.

The fighting resumed again on Monday afternoon with several shells fired, both sides said, as usual blaming each other for the violence.

The clashes began on Friday near two groups of contested temples — called Ta Kwai and Ta Muen in Thai, and Ta Krabei and Ta Moan in Khmer — deep inside the jungle away from the main tourist trail.

Cambodian court sentences oppositiom leader Sam Rainsy to 2 years jail for defaming FM Hor Namhong

Cambodian court sentences opposition leader to 2 years in jail 

Sam Rainsy holding his book “Rooted in Stone” which the Cambodian court found to have contained phrases that are defamatory to Foreign Minister Hor Namhong.

PHNOM PENH (Xinhua) — The Phnom PenhMunicipal Court on Monday sentenced the exiled opposition leader, Sam Rainsy, in absentia to 2 years in jail and fined 2,000 U.S. dollars for public defamation and inciting discrimination, according to the verdict.

The charges were brought under the new criminal code and stem from comments that Sam Rainsy, president of the Sam Rainsy Party, made the speech on April 17, 2008, saying that the current Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister Hor Namhong, minister of foreign affairs, was formerly the chief of Boeung Trabek prison in the Khmer Rouge regime.

“Sam Rainsy’s claims are groundless and incite discrimination against government officials,” said the verdict read by the presiding judge Seng Neang on Monday.

“The verdict is just and brings cleanness to my client,” Ka Savuth, the lawyer for Hor Namhong, told reporters after the verdict announcement.

Hor Namhong won a similar suit in France in 2008 that levied a symbolic fine of 1 euro on Sam Rainsy for comments in his autobiography “Rooted In The Stone.”

Sam Rainsy, 60, who is currently living in exile in France, has already been sentenced in absentia up to 12 years in prison for vandalism after he uprooted border marks withVietnam on October 29, 2009 and for forging public documents and disseminating false information relating to a map of the border between Cambodia and Vietnam.
He was stripped of his parliamentary seat last month as a result of the convictions.

Twelve dead in Thai-Cambodian border fighting

From: AFP
April 25, 2011 

Thai soldiers transport an injured comrade during fighting with Cambodian troops at the Thai-Cambodiaborder in Surin province April 24, 2011. Fighting erupted on Sunday for a third day between Thai and Cambodian troops, with gunfire and explosions heard on both sides of the disputed border, Reuters witnesses said. The clashes, which have killed 11 people on both sides since Friday, started at 0950 a.m. (0250 GMT) with the sound of sustained artillery explosions. REUTERS/Stringer 

THREE days of heavy fighting between Thailand and Cambodia on their disputed border have left 12 people dead, with another soldier killed on each side, officials said.

Seven Cambodian and five Thai troops have died in exchanges of artillery shells and small arms fire on their jungle frontier.

Cambodia says king to miss British royal wedding [not a snub]

Published: 25/04/2011 
Bangkok Post

PHNOM PENH – Cambodian King Norodom Sihamoni (pictured) cannot attend the wedding of Britain’s Prince William, Phnom Penh’s foreign ministry said Saturday, but denied he had ignored the invitation.

British daily The Sun had reported that King Sihamoni was the only one of and estimated 40 foreign royals invited to the wedding of Prince William and KateMiddleton on April 29 not to reply.

“His Majesty the King already responded to the invitation on April 8,” Cambodian foreign ministry spokesman Koy Kuong told AFP.

“Due to his royal work, the king is unable to attend the royal wedding,” he added.

A worldwide television audience of two billion people is set to watch the event live while crowds of hundreds of thousands are expected to line the route from London’s WestminsterAbbey to catch a glimpse of the newlyweds.

Cambodia says Thai shells damaged ancient temples

By SOPHENG CHEANG
The Associated Press

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — Cambodia on Monday accused Thailand of damaging two ancient temples during three days of border clashes between the Southeast Asian neighbors that have left at least 12 soldiers dead. [Cambodian authority claimed tower of Ta Krabey temple (pictured) had collapsed after hit by Thai shells].

There was no immediate comment from Thai authorities, and the extent of the damage was unclear Monday as a precarious calm held in the disputed border region housing the nearly 1,000-year-old stone temples of Ta Moan and Ta Krabey from the Khmer empire.

The current chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa, was in “intense” talks with both sides to secure an end to the conflict, according to Hamzah Thayeb, a senior official at Indonesia’s foreign ministry who oversees Asia-Pacific affairs.