Cambodian reporters on trial for ‘undermining national security’ after working for US-funded radio station
- The pair were arrested in November 2017 during a crackdown on the media and political opponents of Prime Minister Hun Sen’s government
- Police in March 2018 added a charge of producing pornography, which is punishable by up to a year in jail
The espionage trial of two Cambodian journalists who formerly worked for a US government-funded radio station began on Friday, almost two years after their arrests.
Uon Chhin and Yeang Sothearin appeared at the Phnom Penh Municipal Court to defend themselves against the charge that they had undermined national security by supplying information to a foreign state, which is punishable by up to 15 years in prison.
Rights groups have characterised their case as a flagrant attack on press freedom.
The pair, who had already left their jobs with Radio Free Asia, were arrested in November 2017 during a crackdown on the media and political opponents of Prime Minister Hun Sen’s government, ahead of the July 2018 general election. Radio Free Asia had closed its Phnom Penh bureau in September 2017, citing government intimidation of the media, which it said had reached an “unprecedented level”.
By the end of 2017, the government had closed more than two dozen radio stations, some of which had rebroadcast Radio Free Asia’s programmes. The English-language The Cambodia Daily newspaper also was forced to shut down, leaving almost all critical voices inside the country hushed.