Risks loom for opposition media

Chhay Channyda and James O’toole

Phnom Penh Post

AS opposition publisher Hang Chakra prepares to resume publication of his newspaper next week, observers say he faces a media environment in which the place of opposition outlets has, if anything, grown more precarious during his time behind bars.

The publisher of the opposition-aligned Khmer Machas Srok newspaper received a Royal pardon earlier this month and was released last week from Prey Sar prison, where since June he had been serving a one-year sentence for disinformation. He had been charged under the UNTAC criminal code in connection with a series of articles that accused officials working under Deputy Prime Minister Sok An of corruption.

Though Hang Chakra has vowed to resume printing articles critical of government corruption once his paper is back up and running, other publishers say the stifling of pro-opposition media figures is on ongoing trend that is unlikely to be reversed in the near future.

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