Prosecutor Wants Change To Sonando Charges
In a bizarre twist at the Appeal Court hearing of radio station owner Man Sonando, the prosecution yesterday asked that judges drop the charge against Mr. Sonando of inciting antigovernment violence, but then asked the court to uphold another charge leading to an insurrection. Mr. Sonando was convicted on a total of six charges for stocking an alleged secessionist movement in rural Kratie province by the Phnom Penh Municipal Court in October and handed down a 20-year jail sentence in a decision widely denounced as politically motivated. … The prosecutor asked the court to convict Mr. Sonando of a brand new charge, under the Forestry Protection Law, of illegally clearing state owned forestland for private ownership, which carries a prison sentence of 10 years. … “The prosecution believes the Phnom Penh Municipal Court’s decision to charge Mr. Sonando with Article 464 was not right and he should have been charged with Article 97.6 of the Forestry Law” Mr Rith said.” Contacted afterward, Mr. Rith, the prosecutor, said the Forestry Law charge made sense because the alleged secessionist in Kratie province’s Broma village were in a dispute with Casotim, the private owner of a local rubber plantation. …
