Group Drops Suit Against F’pec Radio Station

The Cambodian Center for Hu­man Rights dropped a lawsuit against a Funcinpec-owned radio station after royalist officials apologized for terminating the organization’s news program, officials said.

Rights center Director Kem Sokha said he dropped the lawsuit earlier this week after royalist Information Minister Lu Lay­sreng admitted that 90FM made a mistake in cutting the program without giving prior notice.

But the center will not resume airing its show as long as Fun­cinpec insists on censoring criticism of the royalist party and its pres­ident, Prince Norodom Rana­riddh, Kem Sokha said.

“We are independent. We cannot criticize one side and not the others,” Kem Sokha, a former Fun­cinpec senator, said Wednes­day. “90FM is too biased toward Funcinpec…. I think we cannot broadcast on this station anymore.”

The center’s talk show, which continues on Beehive radio station, enraged Funcinpec officials this month when it criticized Prince Ranariddh for bowing to CPP pressure. Lu Laysreng said Thursday he has invited the center to return to 90FM on the condition that it stop attacking Fun­cinpec.

“This station is supporting Funcinpec, so a program that criticizes the president of Funcinpec is not proper,” the minister said.

(Additional reporting by Luke Reynolds)

 

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