Court backs Mu Sochua verdict

Meas Sokchea and Brooke Lewis

Phnom Penh Post

THE Supreme Court on Wednesday affirmed a controversial defamation conviction against opposition lawmaker Mu Sochua, closing the last stage of a highly charged legal battle with Prime Minister Hun Sen that has triggered renewed criticism of the Cambodian judiciary.

The ruling, read out to a packed-to-overflowing courtroom by Judge Khim Pon, also upheld a fine of 16.5 million riels (US$3,975) levied against Mu Sochua by the Municipal Court last August, though the former minister of women’s affairs said afterwards that she would rather go to jail than pay it.

“My stance remains the same,” she told reporters and supporters outside the courthouse gates after the hearing, which ran just under 90 minutes. “I will not pay the fine. I am ready, and I am willing to go to jail, even today.”

During the hearing, Mu Sochua said both the Municipal Court and the Appeal Court – which upheld the initial verdict in October – had erred in their rulings by failing to consider all the available evidence. But Khim Pon dismissed her claims as meritless.

“We understand why the accused said in this hearing that the courts did not consider all the points of her defamation case, but that is not correct because in its decision the courts have raised enough evidence,” he said.

After fielding a handful of questions outside the court, Mu Sochua led a group of about 50 supporters north along Sothearos Boulevard towards the Royal Palace, though they were quickly intercepted by municipal police wielding riot shields and batons.

The officers stopped the group for about five minutes, then allowed the march to resume, walking 5 metres in front as Mu Sochua – leading the group in what she later described as “a patriotic song to defend the spirit and the soul of the nation and of the people”— executed a meandering trail that ended at SRP headquarters.

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