The Phnom Penh Post - ENGLISH: “Yorm Bopha to be freed on bail” plus 9 more

The Supreme Court has ordered the release of Boeung Kak land activist Yorm Bopha – but only on bail – after ruling that her case should be sent back to the Court of Appeal for a retrial. 

Khem Pon, one of five judges presiding over Bopha's appeal, said the appellate body, which heard the case in June, did not address some of the evidence presented.
 
"The Supreme Court moves this criminal complaint back to the Appeal Court for further investigation and a retrial."
 
Hundreds of Bopha's supporters, many from the Boeung Kak community, joined with monks outside the Supreme Court for the hearing.
 
After little more than two hours of testimony and judges' deliberation, Bopha walked from court to an awaiting prison van and the cheers of the ecstatic crowd on the streets outside.
 
Her own feelings, however, were mixed.
 
"Even though the Supreme Court is releasing me, they still consider me guilty. I'm scared they will arrest me again – just like they did with Born Samnang and Sok Sam Oeun," she said, referring to the two men wrongly imprisoned over the murder of union leader Chea Vichea.
 
"The Supreme Court should have dropped the charges against me."
 
Bopha was arrested in September of last year and accused of ordering her two brothers to beat two motodops at Boeung Kak with an axe and screwdriver. She was sentenced in December to three years in prison. Rights groups say the charges are baseless.
 
Bopha's lawyer, Ham Sunrith, said after the hearing that the Supreme Court had not specified when the case would be reheard.
 
"But she will be released on bail today."
 
Speaking outside the court, Rupert Abbott, Amnesty International's Cambodia researcher, welcomed Bopha's release.
 
"But we're disappointed this whole saga is continuing," he said. "She should never have been arrested in the first place. She shouldn't have spent any time in prison.… This case is symbolic of a trend where human rights defenders are a target for their legitimate work."
 
But E Sophors, president of motodops group the Cambodia Confederation Development Association, said the court had given the complainants, motodops Vath Thaiseng and Nget Chet, no justice.
 
"The Supreme Court did not order the suspects to pay compensation or uphold [Bopha's] prison sentence," he said. "But when the authorities … arrest Bopha's brothers, everything will become clear. And everybody including local and international NGOs will understand who masterminded the attack."
 
Vath Sarath, the father and uncle of the alleged victims, also said the Supreme Court should have demanded compensation be paid.
 
"The judges have not responded to the victims here. They are the victims of violence."
 
In the courtroom earlier, Sunrith, Bopha's lawyer, said the lower courts had ordered Bopha and her husband, Lous Sakhorn, to pay the motodops $15,000 in compensation.
 
"But I've checked medical bills that the victim gave the court – they totalled about $15," he said."

An evening of slideshows including images from King Father Norodom Sihanouk's funeral and sobering shots of the Rana Plaza garment factory collapse in Bangladesh opens the ninth Angkor Photo Festival (APF) on Saturday night at FCC Angkor.

The first of eight slideshow evenings taking place throughout the festival, the opening event features 22 different photographers and will be curated by Françoise Callier, starting at 8.30pm.

Anticipated standout images of the evening include the opening slideshow by five Post photographers entitled Funeral of King Father Norodom Sihanouk. There will also be a slideshow by Sheila Zhao, a returning photographer. Based between Beijing and Shanghai, Zhao first participated as a student in the Festival workshops in 2007 and returns every year. She is now a tutor at the Anjali House Children's Workshops.

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Taslima Akhter's Life and Struggle of Garment Workers, Bangladesh is another expected highlight. A Bangladeshi photographer and activist who has campaigned for a decade for labour rights in the garment sector, Akhter's work went global after the disaster which occurred in April this year.

One photo in particular of two corpses embracing among the rubble was shared heavily on social media. In an interview with the Festival's Asia Coordinator Jessica Lim a few days after the accident, Akhter said that she felt compelled to show this picture.

"It was taken on the first day, technically on April 25th," she said."We were going inside to look for survivors, to see if anyone was still alive. I was there till about 4am, moving around with different groups, working and photographing, trying to help.

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"I saw these two people, holding each other. I couldn't show the rest of the bodies that were around these two. I don't know who they are and what their relationship is with each other. Some people ask me, are they husband and wife? It is not so clear whether they are, or if they knew each other. The point is they were trying to save themselves. I don't know. It is still haunting me."

For those who might have difficulty with such a graphic image, Akhter said: "I have to show it. I think I need to share this pain with all, with everyone. We are all liable for this, we all have to carry this load."

APF's first two exhibitions open on Sunday, with British photographer Martin Usborne's Mute: The Silence of Dogs in Cars, and Herbie Yamaguchi's Hatachi No Shokei launching at the McDermott Gallery at 6pm. Complimentary drinks and light bites will be served.

Now in its ninth year, the Angkor Photo Festival (APF) has become a globally recognised photo festival while maintaining its strong connection to the local community. As APF program director since 2007, Françoise Callier has overseen the festival's evolution for seven of its nine years. We spoke with Callier to find out more about the spirit of the festival and where it's headed.

Phnom Penh Post: How did you first become involved in the Angkor Photo Festival?
Françoise Callier: It was actually by accident. In 2006, APF asked if I would agree to show my series of children's books, with Photoshop montages, on Children's Day. I agreed and asked the festival if I could come to help for a month. They said yes, and I came. Seven years later, I'm still here!

What are your respon-sibilities as APF program director?
Callier: I'm in charge of the entire program, which includes the exhibitions and slideshows and the editing of the content. The festival does not have a fixed theme, and this year I went through all the 1,200 submissions we received from 75 countries. Also, I select the two invited guest curators, one from Asia, and one from the West.

How will this year's festival differ from those before it?
Callier: Our program remains the same, with a series of exhibitions and slideshows, but every year there are more and more photographers, editors and journalists coming to join us from all over Asia and the rest of the world.

What are your criteria when selecting photographers for the festival?
Callier: My criteria for selection has always been the same, I choose based upon the quality of photography and how effective the pictures are in telling a story. I look for unknown stories or unknown talents because the role of a photo festival should be to help make new discoveries. I want to show the work of great photographers who may not be well known yet in the region as well as work by the best photo-story tellers I know, to serve as an inspiration for young photographers.

What does the festival aim to achieve through its two workshops?
Callier: The Anjali Workshop aims to foster children's creativity and to provide them a fun-filled avenue for self-expression and building confidence. The Angkor Photo Workshop is aimed at talented and upcoming Asian photographers, and the free workshops provides participants with first-hand training, invaluable exposure and a chance to develop their personal photographic style and vision. Over the years, the workshop has highlighted emerging talent from the region, and many previous participants have gone on to embark on successful photography careers.

How has the festival changed over the years?
Callier: We are adding new activities for photographers like portfolio reviews and talks, as well as more outdoor outreach activities to involve the local community. As part of Blow Up Angkor, BlindBoys.org also now includes a digital projection segment, visiting local schools and public areas to share specially-curated showcases of photography with Cambodian youths.

What is most challenging about putting this festival together?
Callier: Finances are always a challenge. As a non-profit association we need the support and help of external parties to be able to put on a successful festival.

What about your job do you find most rewarding?
Callier: It is nice to be able to see young and previously unknown talented photographers go on to become recognised for their talent and work as a result of being showcased at our festival.

What are your hopes for the festival's future?
Callier: To keep our three main values: discovery, education and sharing. To continue to build our family, as the Angkor Photo Festival is like a family – the team, the photographers, we are all very close to each other. We want the photographers to feel that they don't have to hesitate to ask for our advice or support, and we will help them whenever they ask if we can.

The 9th Angkor Photo Festival (APF) will bring together many talented local and international photographers for a week in Siem Reap. One of the photographers featured in this year's festival, however, blurs the line between "international" and "local".

Based in Cambodia for 13 years, Belgian photojournalist John Vink has taken photos of major events and everyday life in the Kingdom for international media clients. He first visited the Kingdom in 1989 and came back in 1991 to witness the return of King Sihanouk from exile. Vink said he was hooked on Cambodia immediately.

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Before deciding to make the Kingdom his home in 2000, the 65-year-old Vink had worked in Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia, among other places. His work has generally focused on social and environmental issues in the developing world.

After joining Agence Vu in 1986 he won the Eugene Smith Award for his work Water in the Sahel, a photo essay on the management of water south of the Sahara. In the late 1980s and early 1990s Vink compiled photographs of refugees around the world and published the collection Refugiés in 1994. In 1993 he started working on Peuples d'en Haut, a series of chronicles about communities living in mountainous areas, published in 2004. Vink became a full member of Magnum Photos in 1997. His work Avoir 20 Ans à Phnom Penh was published in 2000. Last year he published Quest for Land, a compilation of 11 years of photography about land issues in Cambodia, for tablet computers.

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This year at APF, Vink's photos documenting controversial plans to dam three rivers in northeastern Cambodia will be shown in a slideshow on Monday, November 25. Vink took photos along the Sekong, Srepok and Sesan rivers in Ratanakkiri and Stung Treng provinces, chronicling the interaction between the people and these vital rivers.

"All 35 of the photos I took explore multiple aspects of the region, including views of the areas that will be dammed, local villages and their residents and daily life among the different ethnic groups living along the rivers," Vink said. The plight of villagers who will be displaced by the dam captured his interest, he added.

Vink's photos from the area (one of which is on the cover of this supplement) also highlight the protests by villagers who do not wish to be forced from their traditional homes. These peoples include Khmer, Lao, Phnong, Karen and Stieng, among others.

In addition to losing their homes, the villagers will also lose their fields and their ancient communities will be destroyed.

"Cambodia certainly needs electricity for the country's development, but it should choose smart development," Vink said. "Relocating people may be a necessity, but compensating them properly and providing comfortable new homes for affected residents is essential."

Average Cambodians are to pay the price for stamping out corruption in the customs department.

Prices for basic goods, such as food and clothing, rose recently after the department was ordered last week to clean up its act and apply the official tax rate, importers told the Post yesterday.

A November 13 directive to the General Department of Customs and Excise of Cambodia was signed by its general director, Pen Simon.

Simon said the department was going to "clean up the weaknesses" and work within the letter of the law.

"All customs and excise officers need to respond to their duty as customs agents to tax all businesses based on rule and regulation," the statement reads.

Since then, more stringent procedures have been applied, causing a slowdown at borders.

Previously, customs officers would often undercut the legal tax rate and pocket a portion for themselves. They are now enforcing the official rate, causing a hike in prices for consumers, according to importers who spoke to the Post yesterday.

Hy Ramy, the managing director of a food importer who did not want his company's name revealed, said food prices passed on to consumers were increasing by 15 to 20 per cent.

"The price of goods is increasing, but it is not because of a higher rate of customs tax, it is due to following the law," he said, adding that the majority of his imports come from Thailand.

Ramy acknowledged that in order to stay competitive he had previously negotiated lower-than-official rates, but welcomed consistent enforcement, which he said would create an even playing field for all.

Traffic had banked up at the Vietnamese border, according to Hok Sovanna, general manager at food importer Mekong Food Group (Cambodia), as importers had to adapt to the new procedures.

"So far people have tried to get some [products imported] unofficially so they can resell them at a reasonable price, but I think if [the law is enforced] like this the price may increase [for consumers] a little," he said, adding that not much had changed for his organisation because it has always worked within the law.

Ka Bang, a sales manager at Dragon Trading who imports food from Vietnam, Thailand and Malaysia, said he had already seen prices rise.

"We now have strictly 100 per cent full tax, so it means that we have to pay more of the tax bill and it has affected some prices on the market," he said, declining to comment on rates paid before the clampdown.

The Ministry of Planning's National Institute of Statistics, which collects food price data, yesterday said that it could not release any information.

National Bank of Cambodia director general Chea Serey, however, acknowledged there had recently been a price hike and that it was being "closely monitored" by the NBC.

Serey attributed the rise to a slowdown in supply due to border delays and "the fact that now importers will have to pay the full amount of tax on imported products".

"In any reform, there are bound to be unpleasant side effects in the short term, but in the long term, this is good for the economy," she said, referring to increased government revenues allowing spending on infrastructure and state salaries.

But it is not merely importers feeling the pinch.

"Now not many people are buying as the price of goods is higher," said Im Moa, a clothing trader at Kab Kor market in Phnom Penh who imports from Thailand and Vietnam.

The balance between fighting corruption and controlling inflation is "very difficult" to manage, Cambodian Economic Association president Srey Chanty said.

Chanty said the government should decrease import taxes for items that lower-income people depend on, such as oil and sugar, and increase rates for products generally purchased by wealthier people, such as electronics.

"These things impact basic commodities, and the poor will be affected the most," he said.

Cambodia spent about $6.8 billion on imports over the first nine months of this year, an increase of 13 per cent from the $6 billion spent in the same period last year.

Most of Cambodia's food and beverage imports come from Vietnam and Thailand.

Tran Tu, trade attache officer at the Vietnamese embassy in Cambodia, said the reforms have not only led to price rises but also delays in retailers receiving their goods.

At the Thai embassy's Office of Commercial Affairs, business support specialist Surachet Maneepong said the official customs duties were now double that of the "traditional" non-official duties.

Thai traders were up in arms, according to Maneepong, as they were not given prior warning of the reforms.

The IMF, which announced last week that inflation would remain stable at 3 to 4 per cent in 2013 and 2014, did not immediately respond to questions yesterday.

The General Department of Customs and Excise could not be reached for comment or confirmation of official rates.

When the Supreme Court hears land-rights activist Yorm Bopha's final appeal this morning, familiar cries for justice will come from Boeung Kak women on the streets outside.

Much has been written about the housewives of Boeung Kak who have risen up against the government and developers to protest mass land evictions – dissent that has led to beatings and imprisonment.

But much less has been documented about the people they have swapped domestic roles with: their husbands.

"When the community began protesting five years ago, the women understood the context of Cambodia," Housing Rights Task Force secretariat director Sia Phearum said yesterday. "People at that time were traumatised and too scared to protest, because people who did were often killed or arrested."

The Boeung Kak community believed putting women on the front line at protests was a way to reduce such violence while still getting their message across, Phearum said. Such a move, they thought, would also allow men to keep working to pay the bills.

As activism has become an almost full-time job for some of the women in the years since, a culture shift has occurred in these households, Phearum added.

"The men have become house husbands."

The streets of Boeung Kak's Village 22 were almost bereft of women on Wednesday afternoon. Tep Vanny, the community's most prominent activist, was in a meeting in the city.

"Our lives have become stressful," said Ou Kongchea, Vanny's husband, who was working at home. "These protests have had a huge effect on my life."

Like other husbands in Boeung Kak, Kongchea has stood in the shadows, lending support as his wife has rapidly become a public figure.

"When my wife joins the protests, I need to do everything in the home," he said. "I take care of our two children and go to the market to buy vegetables to cook."

Being the husband of a well-known dissident also has its professional challenges.

"First, my [boss] began pressuring me," the former military employee said. "Then local authorities from the Daun Penh district filed a complaint to my commander accusing me of using an illegal gun. If that were a real complaint, I would have been arrested."

After taking unpaid leave from his position, Kongchea now works from home making picture frames.

"I've got less money than before and things are much harder," he said.

Vanny is known for getting in the faces of police and security guards. She has been beaten, and spent more than a month in Prey Sar prison last year.

Kongchea said the thought of his wife protesting still makes him stressed. But he sees the importance of it.

"Most Cambodians think women should stay at home to cook the food, support the family and look after the children, not go outside to demonstrate," he said. "But if a man protests, the authorities will use deadly violence. They shoot."

Yorm Bopha's husband, Lous Sakhorn, 57, has spent more than a year raising his nine-year-old son alone.

"When my wife was arrested and imprisoned, my family faced a food shortage," he said. "I was busy looking after my son, doing the housework and visiting my wife in prison – I didn't have enough time to earn money.

"At my age, it's difficult raising a child by myself … but I will keep protesting until my wife is freed."

Bopha, 30, was arrested in September last year and sentenced in December to three years in prison – later reduced to two years on appeal – after she was convicted of ordering an assault on two motodops. Rights groups say the charges are baseless.

Fellow Boeung Kak villager Ly Heap, 40, also saw his wife, Bov Sophea, imprisoned last year. After a three-hour trial, Sophea was one of 13 women, including Vanny, locked in Prey Sar.

The challenge of managing a household in the face of evictions, imprisonment and job loss – Heap worked at the now-bankrupt telephone company Mfone – has taken its toll.

"When I was working at Mfone and my wife protested, I had no time to look after my children," he said. "Sometimes no one would be at home, so they would follow their mother to the protest."

When times are tough at Boeung Kak, though, the men look out for each other, Kongchea said.

"We're good friends, but we haven't formed a network," he said. "We understand each other, but we're not active like the women are."

But they are just as tired.

The release of Bopha, Kongchea said, and the issuing of land titles to dozens of remaining families, would be key steps towards things calming down.

"If this goes on, I think our living conditions will get worse," he said. "We need to stop protests when the case of Yorm Bopha is completely resolved."

But the women, who have branched out to support other human-rights causes in recent years, may have other ideas.

In any case, role reversals are not a bad thing, HRTF's Phearum said.

"If I cook, I might be accused of not being a real man or something … but I think with globalisation and economic development, these things have to change," he said.

An October filing posted to the Khmer Rouge tribunal's website on Wednesday could pave the way for the creation of a second panel of trial chamber judges – a measure that could allow Case 002's next sub-trial to proceed even as the first panel deliberates its verdict in the case's first.

Several questions had previously been raised about the feasibility of such a panel at the often cash-strapped tribunal, including in a September 18 filing from deputy director of the Office of Administration Knut Rosandhaug to the Supreme Court Chamber.

However, the October 31 filing, signed by both Rosandhaug and his national-side superior, office director Tony Kranh, made no mention of these questions, saying the office was prepared to implement any decision regarding the creation of a new panel.

"The Office of Administration has reviewed administrative and financial implications of an establishment of a second panel of judges within the Trial Chamber – and confirms its readiness to support any decision made by the Supreme Court Chamber or the Trial Chamber to duly complete the judicial process in Case 002," the filing reads.

Rosandhaug's September memo questioned whether the agreement that formed the court – which stipulates the number of judges – would have to be amended to allow for a second panel, and whether the current panel would face a conflict of interest hearing Case 002/02 after having decided on 002/01.

It also touched on the expense associated with a new chamber.

"The constitution of a second panel … would, of course, give rise to budgetary implications," Rosandhaug's memo reads. "A question that arises, therefore, is whether the relevant ECCC judicial authorities consider that these budgetary implications would be off-set by the greater speed and efficiency in moving the Case 002 judicial process forward, or not."

Court legal communications officer Lars Olsen said yesterday that if the Supreme Court Chamber had addressed the questions in the September memo, its response "has not been made public".

Olsen also noted that, while the 2014-2015 court budget requested by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon did not contain funds for a second panel, "if there will be an additional second panel, obviously the budget will be revised accordingly".

Long Panhavuth, a program officer with the Cambodian Justice Initiative, said yesterday that he didn't believe the current judges would have a conflict of interest in sitting on Case 002/02, but that the court's decision-making and financial issues should be discussed publicly.

"The donors need to say publicly whether or not they are going to [give] additional funding to the court [for a second panel], so they can manage expectations," he said.

A senate comprising solely of ruling Cambodian People's Party lawmakers yesterday unanimously approved the $3.4 billion draft budget and legislation creating three new government ministries.

The laws passed the National Assembly on November 11 with all 55 opposition party lawmakers absent and now simply needs to be rubber-stamped by the King to come into effect.

Forty CPP senators attended yesterday's vote, which approved the creation of the new Ministry of Public Function and split the Ministry of Industry, Mines and Energy into the Ministry of Energy and Mines and the Ministry of Industry and Handicrafts.

"A total of 40 senators unanimously approved all the draft laws without any revisions," Senate secretary-general Oum Sarith said in a statement.

Eleven Sam Rainsy Party senators said in a statement issued before yesterday's session that they would boycott the session as it was undemocratic.

About 50 garment workers fainted yesterday at the King First Industrial factory in Kandal province's Ang Snuol district, union representatives said.

Khouth Touch, the Free Trade Union president at the factory, said a number of workers had experienced stomach aches and diarrhoea that morning.

"When the other workers saw their workmates like this, they went into shock and fainted one by one," he said, adding that officials from the Ministry of Labour were investigating the circumstances more thoroughly. Those who fainted were treated at nearby clinics, while the remaining workers had been allowed to go home.

Chea Houth, the company's administrative officers, said ventilation had not been a factor.

"There was no smell in the factory. We suspected it was caused by the workers' breakfast they ate at home, because the problems started when they arrived," he said.

Labour Ministry officials could not be reached for comment.

According to FTU's tally, more than 700 garment workers have fainted at work this year.

A month after a company owned by tycoon Kith Meng was ordered to suspend logging the reservoir area of the controversial Lower Sesan II dam, the government yesterday threatened legal action against it if its orders aren't followed.

In a letter obtained by the Post yesterday, the Council of Ministers demands that the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries explain whether the logging ban on Ang & Associates Lawyers, a subsidiary of Meng's Royal Group, is being implemented.

In the letter, signed by Ouk Bun Uy, secretary of state at the Council of Ministers, dated November 13, the ministry is told that logging began in the area before a number of procedures relating to the dam's construction were carried out.

"They've logged instead. Why?" the letter reads.

Phay Siphan, spokesman for the Council of Ministers, said yesterday that he had not received any response from the ministry.

"But we will take action according to the law," he said, referring to both the ministry and Meng's company.

From April to when the ban was imposed – via an order on October 16 – Ang & Associates was logging parts of the reservoir area at the dam site in Stung Treng province.

As part of the ban, it was also announced that a commission of inquiry would be set up to investigate the operations of Ang & Associates.

Minister of Agriculture Ouk Rabun and Secretary of State Ty Sokun could not be reached for comment yesterday.

Logging has not been occurring inside the reservoir since the ban, said Seak Mekong, Srekor commune chief in Stung Treng's Sesan district.

But representatives of Meng's company had been transporting already-felled luxury timber out of the area, he added.

"Our people are wondering whether they are collecting the luxury wood for money for their investment – because they have done nothing but log in there," he said.

Mekong also alleged that logging was taking place outside the reservoir area in a community forest that villagers rely on for their livelihoods.

"This project does not help people but depletes the natural resources instead," he said.

Hydrolancang International Energy, a subsidiary of the state-owned China Huaneng Group, signed a memorandum of understanding with the Royal Group almost a year ago for an initial two-year cash injection into the 400-megawatt dam that environmental groups say will devastate riverside communities.

Earlier this year, Ang & Associates reportedly inked a joint-venture agreement with local businessman Sok Vanna, the brother of Sokimex founder Sok Kong, to clear the 36,000-hectare site in preparation for the $816 million project.

Meng could not be reached for comment yesterday.