VZCZCXRO9351
OO RUEHCHI RUEHDT RUEHHM RUEHNH
DE RUEHPF #0469/01 1901217
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
O 091217Z JUL 09
FM AMEMBASSY PHNOM PENH
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 0916
INFO RUCNASE/ASEAN MEMBER COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RHHMUNA/HQ USPACOM HONOLULU HI PRIORITY
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC PRIORITY 0174

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 PHNOM PENH 000469 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EAP/MLS, D, P, DRL 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/09/2019 
TAGS: PGOV PHUM KJUS PREL CB
SUBJECT: WHIRLWIND DEFAMATION CASE DISMISSAL SHOWS 
OPPOSITION A WAY OUT OF "PERFECT STORM" OF LITIGATION 
 
REF: A. PHNOM PENH 413 
     ¶B. PHNOM PENH 410 
 
Classified By: ACTING DEPUTY CHIEF OF MISSION GREG LAWLESS FOR REASONS 
1.4 (B, D) 
 
¶1.  (C) SUMMARY:  A new defamation/incitement case filed July 
8 against leading opposition party newspaper publisher Dam 
Sith was quickly negotiated into the withdrawal of the 
complaint when Dam Sith publicly apologized to Prime Minister 
Hun Sen.  Parliamentarian and Sam Rainsy Party (SRP) leader 
Tioulong Saumura told Acting DCM July 9 that SRP will use 
parts of the Dam Sith conciliation playbook to rid themselves 
of four outstanding defamation suits against party members 
and to "choose a battleground where we can fight" while 
preserving the political space the party has used to develop 
and mature.  She compared the CPP-dominated courts' use of 
defamation and incitement cases against SRP to "being dropped 
into a typhoon."  While declaiming against a "subverted and 
politically manipulated" judicial system and sadly noting 
some shrinkage of the space for Cambodia's usually 
free-wheeling press, Saumura was confident that the party 
would come out of this "perfect storm" -- ironically set in 
motion by SRP's own MP Mu Sochua in late April, when she 
filed the first defamation case against PM Hun Sen -- ready 
to do battle as more competent, cooperative, and professional 
problem solvers.  Saumura acknowledged that the jailing of 
opposition newspaper editor Hang Chakra was a more serious 
threat to press freedom, but placed the blame on Deputy Prime 
Minister Sok An, who so far was not willing to negotiate the 
exchange of an apology for a pardon/release.  END SUMMARY. 
 
¶2.  (C) Phnom Penh woke up July 9 to the news in local papers 
that government lawyer Long Dara had filed a complaint 
against Dam Sith, the editor of daily Khmer-language 
Moneaksekar Khmer (Cambodian Conscience) related to 18 
articles published between February and April and that the 
Phnom Penh prosecutor had summoned Dam Sith for questioning 
on July 14 to answer charges related to defamation, insults, 
disinformation, and incitement.  Two of these charges carry 
criminal penalties of up to three years in jail.  SRP leader 
Tioulong Saumura (wife of Sam Rainsy and nominal party chief 
executive) called A/DCM July 8 to ask for an urgent meeting 
the next morning to discuss this case. 
 
Incredible Negotiating Session 
------------------------------ 
 
¶3.  (C) Saumura related that the morning newspaper stories 
were already out of date and that Dam Sith had negotiated the 
withdrawal of the complaint in exchange for Dam Sith's formal 
apology to Prime Minister Hun Sen.  The apology had already 
been read on CTN TV the morning of July 9 and CTN had 
announced the complaint and summons was being withdrawn. 
Saumura claimed that Dam Sith had urgently approached Deum 
Ampil newspaper publisher and CTN TV personality Soy Sopheap 
the evening before to negotiate the removal of the charges 
and that Soy Sopheap placed a phone call direct to Hun Sen. 
Putting Hun Sen on the speaker phone, Soy Sopheap proceeded 
to negotiate the terms of the withdrawal between the two 
principals, she said.  Saumura claimed that the terms on Dam 
Sith were exacting at first -- including his joining the CPP 
-- but that Dam Sith was able to whittle away at them.  In 
the end, Dam Sith had to agree to apologize for affecting the 
honor of Hun Sen and other CPP leaders, and also agreed to 
dissociate himself from the Monekasekar Khmer newspaper and 
to support the Prime Minister's "win-win" policy of 
development.  (A copy of the letter of apology is being sent 
to the Desk.)  Saumura claimed Dam Sith would stay away from 
the newspaper "for a while" and implied that he would get 
back into other newspaper work before the year is out. 
 
¶4. (C) However, the Dam Sith experience finally showed SRP a 
way out of its current "perfect storm" she said.  Already SRP 
was looking for an intermediary between Ho Vann, also cited 
for defamation and incitement, and the 22 military officials 
whose honor allegedly had been affected by his statement 
their military degrees were worthless (Ref B).  Ho Vann was 
ready to write a letter of apology, she said.  The case by 
Foreign Minister Hor Namhong against Sam Rainsy might have to 
wait for the appeal on a similar case in France, she noted. 
However, the defamation case by Phnom Penh Municipal Mayor 
Kep Chuktema based on Rainsy's claim that municipal CPP 
members tried to buy SRP members' votes during the local 
council elections (filed on May 27 but with no summons as of 
yet) might follow a similar course of apology. 
 
Mu Sochua "Not Universally Liked" 
 
PHNOM PENH 00000469  002 OF 002 
 
 
-------------------------------- 
 
¶5.  (C) As for the case of Mu Sochua, this would follow a 
different path, said Saumura.  Commenting first that the SRP 
core members thought the SRP found itself in a 
counterproductive battle with the ruling CPP because of Mu 
Sochua's defamation suit against Hun Sen (filed April 27 but 
dismissed June 10), and that some in the party "did not like 
her," Saumura said that the party faithful had conceded to Mu 
Sochua's "pride and principals" and they would allow her to 
continue as a defendant in Hun Sen's defamation suit against 
her.  Expecting that she will be found to have violated the 
non-criminal defamation provisions of the law and fined 10 
million riel ($2500), and noting that Mu Sochua will live up 
to her personal vow not to pay the fine, Saumura said the 
party will then step in and order that the fine be paid. 
After that, either the party or a supporter will pay the fine 
on Mu Sochua's behalf, she said. 
 
¶6.  (C)  "It's crazy to be fighting this battle," said 
Saumura, who likened the defamation cases to "being dropped 
into a typhoon."  The SRP needed to choose the battle ground 
on which it could fight, she said.  Citing new party building 
exercises across the country, she said the SRP would follow 
advice from a German technical advisor to project themselves 
as mature statespersons who are competent and issue-oriented, 
ready to cooperate on issues and acting as problem-solvers. 
 
A More Difficult Case 
--------------------- 
 
¶7.  (C) When asked about SRP members' efforts to visit the 
jailed editor of Khmer Machas Srok newspaper, Hang Chakra, 
who in June was jailed for one year on a disinformation 
charge, Saumura confirmed the SRP had submitted a request to 
the Ministry of Interior but had not yet been able to see 
him.  She conceded this was a more difficult case (Ref B). 
Hang Chakra, who wrote articles on corruption within the 
Council of Ministers, especially among the circle around Sok 
An, apparently had appealed to Sok An from his jail cell to 
help him get released in exchange for a public apology. 
According to Saumura, Sok An declined, saying that "it was 
too late." (NOTE:  We believe efforts at conciliation 
continue.  In the meantime, Hang Chakra's lawyer reports that 
his client is well, is satisfied with the food in jail and 
has not reported being abused, but is confined with 40 others 
in cramped quarters.  END NOTE.) 
 
¶8.  (C) COMMENT:  Saumura has long been a pragmatic leader at 
the top of SRP and once again she has found a path forward 
for the party, which she confidently portrays as thriving and 
still able to enjoy what she calls a "small" open political 
space.  She also paints a picture of Dam Sith's storm as 
something that will pass and, by the end of the year, be 
gone.  She seemed genuinely surprised by Hun Sen's 
willingness to negotiate through formal apology, but eager to 
seize for the party the fortuitous opportunity of the Prime 
Minister's example to be used in other cases.  The Hang 
Chakra-Sok An experience shows that some underlying threats 
to a genuinely free press remain, although we cannot rule out 
Sok An's softening over time.  In septel, post will address 
these and other issues of freedoms being challenged in 
Cambodia by a stronger CPP and our comprehensive response to 
this new development. 
RODLEY