Government officials on Monday continued to deny responsibility for an election-period ban on foreign radio broadcasts issued Friday that has since been lifted amid intense criticism both locally and abroad.
But legal experts, election observers and media professionals said those responsible for the directive still ought to be sanctioned due to concerns over its constitutionality.
Information Minister Khieu Kanharith on Monday again insisted that he had no say in the ban, claiming that he had officially abandoned his role as minister since hitting the campaign trail late last month.
Asked to explain who was responsible for issuing the ban, he referred a reporter back to a statement issued by the Information Ministry on Saturday that lifted the original ban.
“All the questions you asked are in the said directives,” he said.
Acting Information Minister Ouk Prathna signed off on the order last Tuesday banning all FM stations from broadcasting any Khmer-language foreign programming in the month leading up to the July 28 national election. Mr. Prathna could not be reached and Buth Bovuth, director-general of the ministry’s information and broadcasting department, declined to comment.
Critics accuse the government of trying to suppress negative news from being disseminated on FM radio station—the primary source of information for most Cambodians. The ban also led the U.S. State Department to announce on Saturday that the government’s decision was “a serious infringement on freedom of expression, and starkly contradicts the spirit of a healthy democratic process.”
Son Soubert, a past member of the Constitutional Council of Cambodia, who now heads the opposition Human Rights Party, said the ban breached the Constitution’s guarantee of a free press.
“The one who gives the order, if it is found to be illegal, he needs to be sanctioned,” he said.
In France, such a breach could land the guilty party in court, said Mr. Soubert, who holds duel citizenship in Cambodia and France.
“But can you imagine we can do that in Cambodia? I don’t think so,” he said.
He cited Prime Minister Hun Sen’s recent claim to have helped opposition lawmaker Kem Sokha escape arrest for allegedly paying to have sex with a 15-year-old girl as another example of senior officials not being held accountable. Though the prime minister repeatedly admitted to breaking the law, neither the courts nor the police have taken any action.
“So the culture of impunity continues,” Mr. Soubert said. “I don’t think we are going to find out who is the culprit,” he added, referring back to the broadcast ban. “Even if found, there will be no responsibility. Even the person who shot in Bavet [City] is not arrested.”
Mr. Soubert was referring to former Bavet Governor Chhouk Bundith, who was recently convicted of shooting three garment workers last year and sentenced to jail but remains free.
Pa Nguon Teang, who heads the Cambodian Center for Independent Media, called the broadcast ban “a lawless action.”
“The people who commit wrong[doing] like this…should face the administrative punishment,” he said.
But in Cambodia, he added, “there is no chance with the current government.”
Mr. Nguon Teang also heads the Cambodian Center for Human Rights’ Voice of Democracy (VOD) radio program. During last year’s commune elections, the Information Ministry had a VOD program on election day polling problems yanked from the air midway through the broadcast.
Koul Panha, who heads the independent Committee for Free and Fair Elections in Cambodia, said Information Minister Kanharith was still ultimately responsible for what the ministry did regarding the ban.
While some countries routinely dissolved their parliaments or assigned caretaker governments ahead of national elections, he noted, Cambodia did not. The Constitution says the legislative term of one Assembly only ends on the day the new Assembly convenes, he added.
“They are still in the ministry and responsible; there is no law that says they [are] not responsible, because the government still continues their work up to the new parliament,” Mr. Panha said.
Mr. Panha also said the ban also broke the country’s press and election laws.
NEC Secretary-General Tep Nytha rejected any responsibility for foreign programming on local radio stations.
“The NEC is not involved with this issue. It’s their rights to open or close” the airwaves to foreign programs, he said of the ministry.
“I don’t want to take sides with anyone, but this is their problem, not ours,” he added. “The ministry is the one that gives permission for the rebroadcast by FM stations of foreign programs.”
