VZCZCXRO5552
OO RUEHCHI RUEHDT RUEHHM RUEHNH
DE RUEHPF #0413/01 1730942
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 220942Z JUN 09
FM AMEMBASSY PHNOM PENH
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 0846
INFO RUCNASE/ASEAN MEMBER COLLECTIVE PRIORITY

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 PHNOM PENH 000413 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EAP/MLS, P, D, DRL 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PREL KJUS CB
SUBJECT: NATIONAL ASSEMBLY SUSPENDS MU SOCHUA'S IMMUNITY; 
OBSERVERS DENIED ENTRY TO SESSION 
 
REF: PHNOM PENH 387 
 
SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED 
 
¶1.  (SBU) SUMMARY: The Cambodian National Assembly voted on 
June 22 to suspend the parliamentary immunity of Sam Rainsy 
Party (SRP) MP Mu Sochua, clearing the way for her to be 
questioned and possibly prosecuted for defamation under the 
complaint by Prime Minister Hun Sen.  Security guards blocked 
all access to the observer gallery, where diplomats, press, 
and civil society can usually watch sessions underway. 
Diplomats from several embassies were denied entry to the 
National Assembly building, despite having observer passes 
and having requested permission to attend from the 
Secretary-General of the National Assembly.  Without warning, 
the National Assembly also suspended the parliamentary 
immunity for another SRP lawmaker, Ho Vann, during the 
morning's first session.  Mu plans to depart Cambodia the 
evening of June 22 for a previously scheduled speaking 
engagement in the U.S.  She has made public her intent to 
return July 6.  The Embassy will monitor her departure at the 
airport.  END SUMMARY. 
 
---------------- 
Suspension of Immunity 
---------------- 
 
¶2.  (SBU) On the morning of June 22, the National Assembly 
voted to suspend the immunity of SRP lawmakers Mu Sochua and 
Ho Vann.  In a session closed to observers, all Cambodian 
People's Party members, plus one FUNCINPEC and two Norodom 
Ranariddh Party members, voted first to add the issue of Ho 
Vann's immunity to the agenda, and then to vote by show of 
hands on the suspension of immunity for both SRP lawmakers. 
At that point, all SRP members walked out of the session. 
The vote continued without them, with the Assembly voting to 
suspend the immunity of both lawmakers.  National Assembly 
spokesperson Cheam Yeap stated that there were 90 votes in 
favor of lifting Mu Sochua's immunity (87 CPP, 1 FUNCINPEC, 2 
NRP), and 91 votes in favor of lifting Ho Vann's immunity (88 
CPP, 1 FUNCINPEC, 2 NRP).  There were no votes against either 
motion.  Cheam Yeap made this statement to the media, but 
would not take questions. 
 
¶3.  (SBU) The Prime Minister did not attend the June 22 
session - he was presiding over provincial inauguration 
ceremonies in Kandal province.  Following the votes, Hun Sen 
commented publicly on the vote tallies, and warned that there 
should be no "chaotic" foreign interference in the issue of 
suspension of parliamentary immunity.  One FUNCINPEC MP 
present at the National Assembly session told us that the 
Prime Minister was calling the Secretary-General of the 
National Assembly every three minutes for an update on the 
voting during the morning session. 
 
¶4.  (SBU) As the vote played out inside, diplomats from four 
foreign missions attempted to gain access to the observation 
gallery of the National Assembly.  Per usual policy, the 
officers all had observer passes granted by the National 
Assembly, and several, including the AmEmbassy, had sent 
letters to the Secretary-General requesting permission to 
attend the June 22 session.  Despite this, security guards 
barred entry to the building.  Upon further questioning, one 
guard admitted to Poloff that the Secretary-General ordered 
guards to block access to the building by any outsiders, 
including press, civil society, or members of the diplomatic 
corps.  A small group of senior diplomats from the American, 
French, and British Embassies, along with the German 
Ambassador, negotiated with the guards at the gate sometime 
later, but were still denied access to the building. 
 
¶5.  (SBU) Nanda Pok, executive director of the NGO Women for 
Prosperity, told Poloff that she obtained an observer pass to 
attend the session from the Committee for Free and Fair 
Elections in Cambodia (COMFREL), which keeps a standing list 
of observers for the National Assembly.  She arrived around 
7:45 a.m., entering the National Assembly building in 
conversation with a lawmaker, and was able to stand outside 
the Assembly chamber during her conversation.  When the 
lawmaker went inside the chamber, Ms. Pok attempted to climb 
the stairs to the observer gallery, but guards asked her to 
return outside and would not let her enter further.  She said 
when she pressed for an explanation, the guards were very 
polite, but begged her to go back outside because they had 
been instructed to keep outsiders away from the session. 
 
-------------- 
Gloves Are Off 
-------------- 
 
PHNOM PENH 00000413  002.6 OF 003 
 
 
 
¶6.  (SBU) Contradicting the RGC's strategy up until now, the 
Prime Minister's defamation complaint against Mu Sochua 
accelerated rapidly and publicly in recent days.  On June 15, 
The Permanent Committee of the National Assembly discussed 
the procedure for suspending Mu's immunity, and then added 
the issue to the June 22 agenda, the first full National 
Assembly session after its summer recess.  On June 17, the 
Prime Minister publicly lashed out at Mu.  On June 18, the 
National Assembly announced it would move up consideration of 
Mu's immunity to the June 19 agenda - but another agenda item 
took all available time; it became the first agenda item for 
consideration on the June 22 agenda.  While several 
international and civil society observers were present on 
June 19, and international interest in the case is well 
known, there was no announcement made that the June 22 
session would be closed to observers. 
 
¶7.  (SBU) In his June 17 speech to graduates of the Royal 
School of Administration in Phnom Penh, Hun Sen said lifting 
parliamentary immunity was a fairly easy thing, but restoring 
it might be impossible.  Both actions require a two-thirds 
majority vote of the National Assembly, which the Prime 
Minister controls through the CPP's dominating presence in 
the legislative body.  Hun Sen declared that some CPP 
lawmakers had already said they would not vote to restore 
Mu's immunity, regardless of the resolution of the defamation 
complaint in court. He suggested the SRP replace Mu with a 
new person. 
 
¶8.  (SBU) Following the vote on June 22, Sam Rainsy issued a 
statement saying the SRP would not replace Mu Sochua, and 
that her seat would remain hers through the end of her legal 
term.  He said that replacing her "would be like politically 
burying her alive and complying with Hun Sen's insane 
desire." 
 
------- 
Ho Vann 
------- 
 
¶9.  (SBU) Ho Vann has been the subject of another among the 
recent spate of defamation and disinformation lawsuits filed 
in Cambodia.  The lawmaker reportedly reacted to the 
announcement that a group of 22 RCAF officers had received 
honorary degrees from a Vietnamese military college by 
calling the degrees "worthless."  Almost immediately 
thereafter, Ho Vann published a clarification in several 
daily newspapers, claiming that he had been misquoted and 
that he believed the degrees did have value if the officers 
combined their military-science training with moral training. 
 But the Government filed a defamation and disinformation 
lawsuit against him on behalf of the RCAF officers anyway. 
Ho Vann appeared in court on June 5 to explain his version of 
events to the case prosecutor, and on June 11 his lawyer (who 
is also Mu Sochua's lawyer) announced that they were meeting 
with the prosecutor to "fix the misunderstanding." 
 
¶10.  (SBU) It came as a shock to Ho Vann when the National 
Assembly added his case to the agenda and then stripped his 
parliamentary immunity on June 22.  The SRP lawmakers who 
walked out of the National Assembly session held an impromptu 
press gathering on the street outside, wearing medical face 
masks with large, black Xs printed over their mouths.  Ho 
Vann said that he received no advance notification that his 
case was to be considered during the Assembly session, and 
said he was very surprised.  Another SRP member complained 
the CPP "acted in s ecret" to move against Ho Vann. 
 
--------- 
COMMENT 
--------- 
 
¶11.  (SBU) According to some lawmakers, there was hope that 
the voting on the immunity questions would be done by secret 
ballot, so that those inclined to dissent would be able to do 
so privately.  With the decision to vote by show of hands, 
that hope disappeared.  The final vote tallies reflect the 
lack of autonomy for individual Members of Parliament.  Post 
is particularly concerned about Ho Vann's case because with 
military plaintiffs, Ho Vann could be detained by military 
police rather than civilian police.  The last SRP lawmaker 
held in military prison, Cheam Channy, was reportedly held in 
harsh conditions during his imprisonment.  Mu Sochua is 
scheduled to depart Phnom Penh the night of June 22 for a 
previously scheduled speaking engagement in the U.S.  She is 
an American citizen; the Embassy intends to monitor from a 
distance her departure at the airport to mitigate any 
problems that may arise as a result of today's actions. 
 
PHNOM PENH 00000413  003 OF 003 
 
 
RODLEY