"Case against Cambodia Daily reporters withdrawn but press freedom attacks persist", 27 November 2020

Former Cambodia Daily reporter Aun Pheap is relieved that an incitement case against him and reporting colleague Zsombor Peter was withdrawn by a Ratanakkiri plaintiff ...

The reporting pair – well known for their investigative stories on illegal logging and other environmental issues – were in the province’s Pate commune … to report on why the constituency had been an opposition stronghold.

Ramam Yout, the then-Sam Rainsy Party commune chief, was unhappy with their line of questioning and decided to file an incitement complaint against the reporters. And a rudimentary election story quickly turned into a 30-month legal ordeal for the two reporters, both of whom have since left the country.

…, the Ratanakkiri Provincial Court announced that Yout had withdrawn the case against Pheap and Peter. Keo Pisith, a court spokesperson, only confirmed that the charges had been dropped…

Pheap, who now lives in the U.S. and is awaiting processing of his asylum application, said the dropping of charges gave him little assurance that he could return to Cambodia safely. The reporter’s family still live in the country.

… “If the [court] wants to provide us justice they could have done it a few years ago, they don’t need to wait for us to flee and stay far from my wife and children,” he said.

… Sek Sophorn, the journalists’ lawyer, was delighted that the court had decided to drop the charges, saying it was a just outcome.

Sophorn, who attended … hearing, said the plaintiff, Ramam Yout, claimed that the case had taken too long to conclude…