A senior National Power Party (NPP) official requested the Phnom Penh Municipal Court to dismiss his “incitement” charge following a complaint brought against him by a CPP official who demanded $100,000 compensation for his “mental anguish”.
The hearing before the judge went on for 30 minutes on the afternoon of August 8.
Against this backdrop, Candlelight Party said three of its activists were arrested for “unknown reasons”, including a second chief of Svay Teap commune, Chamkar Leu district, Kampong Cham province.
The party also confirmed that eight Candlelight and Khmer Will Party activists were arrested within two weeks. It called on the authorities to release the activists and cease all forms of persecution against their activists.
Meu Senghor, interim vice president of NPP Kampong Cham province division, was charged with public insult under Article 307 of the Criminal Code and incitement to discriminate under Articles 494 and 496 of the same law in March this year.
According to his lawyer Choung Choungy, the incitement charge was added to detain Senghor.
Public insult is defined as “any insulting expression, scorning terms or any other verbal abuses” that is not tantamount to slander. If found guilty, the person can be fined between 100,000 riel and 10 million riel. It does not carry a jail term.
At the hearing, the clerk described three facts which resulted in the charging of Senghor. On September 5, 2023, a Facebook page called “Kea Visal” (which belongs to Senghor) posted a picture with “insulting and vulgar” captions directed at plaintiff Mai Hongsreang.
One caption read, “Hongsreang sold his head for a cheap price to the CPP”. Another fact raised was the correspondence by Kea Visal on Facebook social messaging app Messenger, where he allegedly called Hongsreang “a dog”.
He also accused him of “cheating someone of their money” under the pretext of helping Candlelight Party as well as embezzling money that was allegedly meant to “pay people to join CPP”.
Senghor and Honsgreang were colleagues in Candlelight Party, but Hongsreang left to join CPP in May 2023.
After the clerk read out the facts, Senghor immediately denied the allegations, claiming that they were “arbitrary”. He said he made the Facebook comment after Hongsreang “persuaded” him to join CPP in “exchange for $500”.
Deputy prosecutor Seng Heang and Hongsreang’s lawyer Vinh Kimly questioned Senghor about his Facebook posts and text messages that were read out by the clerk.
Senghor admitted that he made the comments but that they were “reciprocal” as the plaintiff insulted his mother first.
Responding to that, the judge said Senghor had the right to sue Hongsreang if he was insulted by the latter’s comment. However, the prosecutor said there was no evidence that Hongsreang insulted the defendant.
“I don’t know how [or if I need] to find evidence to sue [because] it’s pointless,” Senghor said.
His lawyer Choungy said Senghor’s comments tendered by the prosecution did not show evidence of incitement. The insults cannot be viewed as “incitement”, he said.
In addition, he claimed that his client did not use words that led to racial and religious discrimination against Hongsreang, which are key elements to prove “incitement to discriminate” under Article 496 of the Criminal Code.
The prosecutor said on September 5, 2023, Senghor accused Hongsreang of taking $1,000 from Phnom Penh governor Khuong Sreng to give to those who joined CPP, but Hongsreang allegedly “embezzled the money as commission”.
At this juncture, the plaintiff’s lawyer, Vinh Kimly, questioned Senghor whether he was angry with Hongsreang and Khuong Sreng, and what was the reason he posted the message on Facebook.
Senghor said he had no ill intention but posted the comment to attack the person who insulted his mother.
Separately, Hongsreang testified that he never took money from Khuong Sreng. He said when he joined the CPP, he did it with the help of other persons, not Khuong Sreng.
Meanwhile, Hongsreang accused Senghor of calling his daughter a “prostitute”. For this, he demanded $100,000 as compensation from Senghor for allegedly causing him “mental anguish”.
Hongsreang’s lawyer asked the judge to give Senghor the maximum sentence because he has a “history of committing incitement” and recidivism. The prosecutor sought for a sentence that commensurates Senghor’s crime.
Senghor’s lawyer Choungy urged the court to drop the “incitement to discriminate” charge, citing lack of evidence of “incitement” in the comment made on Facebook against Hongsreang.
Senghor also pleaded with the judge to release him as there was no element of incitement which required further detention for investigation, while asking the court to decide fairly.
Following the submissions by both parties, the judge declared that the verdict will be announced at 2pm on August 28, 2024.
