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International groups call for release of Cambodian radio director
Deutsche Presse Agentur - August 6, 2012
Mam Sonando, head of Beehive Radio and founder of Cambodia's Democrat Association, was arrested on July 15 in connection with an alleged secessionist plot.
During a May crackdown on a suspected breakaway movement, armed security forces stormed a village in the eastern province of Kratie. A 14-year-old girl was killed during the operation.
Sonando was later charged with participating in an insurrection, inciting people to take up arms, and obstruction of public officials, according to the Cambodian Center for Human Rights.
Rights groups have expressed concern that a long-running land dispute in Kratie sparked the violence and that Sonando's arrest was unrelated to the incident, but rather a response to his outspoken defence of human rights.
The International Federation of Journalists, Lawyers' Rights Watch Canada and the Center for Law and Democracy said in an open letter to the government on Monday that there was "no substantial evidence" to connect Sonando with the Kratie case.
"What is clear, however, is that Mr Sonando has been a prominent critic of human rights abuses in Cambodia," it said. "It is our belief that Mr. Sonando was arrested for exercising his right to freedom of expression."
Government spokesman Phay Siphan replied that the case had been manipulated by some non-governmental organizations that did not "know what's going on in Cambodia." He said the case would proceed through the Cambodian court system.
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