CIVIL RESISTANCE
My TREASON & INCITEMENT MASS TRIAL (Initial Page on Trial Matters) TUESDAY, 14 JUNE 2022 VERDICT ANNOUNCEMENT Court Statement: Concluding Remarks ការការពារ ផ្លូវច្បាប់ របស់ខ្ញុំ [ ... ] |
CIVIC EDUCATION
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So many great developments within the last 48 hours, the main one this morning is the request of both CNRP and CPP to Dr. Pung Chiv Kek to be the 9th member of the reformed National Election Committee.
Rights monitor tapped for 'neutral' NEC seat Phnom Penh Post, 28 July 2014
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I support the Political Agreement reached on 22 July 2014 Theary C. Seng, Phnom Penh, 28 July 2014
It's high time for Cambodia's Hun Sen to go Financial Times, 27 July 2014 Cambodia's Long March toward Democracy Foreign Policy, 25 July 2014
Very, very strong editorial of the Financial Times Mr Hun Sen must lance the boil. He should make steps to leave office. Handled astutely, he could prepare an orderly transition in time for the next election, likely to take place in 2018 – though sooner would be better. Like most leaders who have held power for so long, he is reluctant to give up the wealth and prestige that goes with it. Like many, he may fear what could happen to him without the protection of the state apparatus he now controls. The opposition should convince him that he can leave without revenge. Sam Rainsy has a strong record of being a person of reconciliation, and not one of revenge. It is believed that late King Sihanouk had his father killed, but look at how he has reconciled with the late King. On countless occasions, Sam Rainsy has chosen the path and rhetoric of national reconciliation, most recently in his speech yesterday at the 1st CNRP National Congress, when he referred to Cambodian saying which has been used of late. "We must rid the culture of fish devouring ants and ants devouring fish. We are neither fish nor ants; we are human beings. As human beings and as Khmers, we must be reconciled to each other and forgo revenge."
- Theary C. Seng, Phnom Penh, 28 July 2014
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It's deja vu! Exactly one year ago, Sam Rainsy returned from a forced 4-year exile to an electric crowd of half a million (!) who came out to greet him. Like last year, I was fortunate to see the emotional outpouring of support from Cambodians from the back of the truck carrying Sam Rainsy. See photos of this amazing trip from the Airport to the CNRP HQ, 19 July 2014
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LET'S CROWD THE JAIL CELLS!
Oftentimes, I wonder the depth of the ignorance of the older CPP guards:
Why, with all the resources at their disposal and with their children educated overseas, they are not better advised?
Why, so caught up in Cold War tactics and mentality, a destructive tunnel vision for themselves in the long run?
Why they do not have better people around them, rather than the platoon of useless "advisers" currently on the payroll and calling cards of many?
Can they not see the obvious, that they are digging their own graves?
As Cambodian democrats, we can learn a lot from the Civil Rights Movement, particularly during this time: CROWD THE JAIL CELLS!
Over the years, I've tried to engage in justice activities to highlight the injustices of this Kingdoom and to land in jail, if need be!
(It's not as if I do not know the conditions of these jail cells. I have visited inside all of Cambodia's 24 provincial and Phnom Penh prisons -- and this was in 1997!)
But unfortunately, the Kingdoom has not, for whatever reasons, want to jail me. So I persist in my justice engagements.
WITH THE INCREASING AND RISING NUMBERS OF CAMBODIANS. Put us in jail for our justice actions, please! Let us so crowd the jail cells and join the other justice activists already there!
That is the message that Cambodians are saying in our actions, very loudly and clearly, but this thuggish regime is so tone-deaf. We just need to raise the volume in our non-violence and justice demands and MORE PROTESTS!
Mr. Hun Sen, do you know what Cambodians are asking right now? WHEN is the next mass, non-violent protests so we can join? Your strong-arm tactics are creating not only anger but more protesters and voters for the CNRP!
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My Opinion entitled "CNRP should not invoke parliamentary immunity" in The Phnom Penh Post to be published tomorrow, Friday, 18 July 2014.
Phnom Penh Post, 18 July 2014
CNRP Should Not Invoke Their Parliamentary Immunity The issue is: when does the parliamentary immunity attach? The answer is really simple and clear based on the parliamentary immunity’s internal logic and the Constitution. Simply, the privilege is not absolute for a parliamentarian and attaches only to “opinions expressed in the exercise of his/her duties” (Art. 80). It follows then that this partial privilege assumes the existence of a legitimate National Assembly. The Cambodian People Party-established National Assembly is prima facie unconstitutional.
How is the National Assembly formed? Simply, the formation of the National Assembly is a process that must satisfy four conditions: (i) the election results produced at least 120 members; (ii) these 120 MPs-elect convened the initial session (iii) at the invitation and presence of the King, and (iv) they took an oath before assuming official functions. [...] Second and to the contrary, it is to CNRP’s advantage not to rely on the parliamentary immunity. In doing so, it clears one smokescreen to the risible, politically-motivated charges. This is where the focus is and it should be kept here, without any distraction of immunity talk. The legal case is groundless: let it stay clearly so without obfuscation of other side entanglements. And force the authority to deal with their nakedness—the serious and laughable charges in the political theatre, in plain view for all to see and ridicule. After all, the emperor has no clothes.
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I will join other CNRP officials and supporters in greeting Sam Rainsy at the Phnom Penh International Airport this Saturday, 19 July 2014 at 9 A.M., exactly one year of his return from exile.
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Arrests of CNRP elected MPs directly related to Political Stalemate;
Hun Xen and his thuggish CPP helping to create the perfect storm for their own downfall
- Trumped-up charges of insurrection and incitement to commit a felony; the court cited articles 459, leading an insurrection; 495, incitement to commit a felony; as well as 28 and 218, both under aggravated circumstances in the criminal code.
- 6 sent to notorious Prey Sar prison for pre-trial detention; 3 more CNRP officials to be questioned (but according to CNRP Son Chhay already charged in absentia with same crimes) which could easily lead to their arrest (Long Ry, Nuth Rumduol, Khin Roeun)
- Issue of Parliamentary Immunity: when does this right attach?
- Security forces made accessible hundreds of wooden sticks to the protesters Hun Sen and the thuggish CPP are helping to create the perfect storm for their own downfall, heaping burning coals on their heads in this most recent shenanigans.
Always with this Hun Xen and his thuggish regime, irregularities abound in the legal proceeding. They have such a disdain and low opinion of the populous, that they don't care. IMPUNITY. Now, in the Information Age, the people are forcing them to care!
As such, the CNRP should stay coherent in its stance in calling this CPP-established National Assembly and CPP-established Government UNCONSTITUTIONAL. This means the detained CNRP elected MPs should not invoke their parliamentary immunity. According to Article 80 of the Constitution, an MP's parliamentary immunity attaches during "the exercise of his/her duties", once there exists a legitimate National Assembly.
Legally, the charges against them are groundless that they have no need to invoke this immunity.
Politically, invoking it will only confused and weakened their position on the unconstitutionality of the current NatAss (CPP-est. National Assembly) and Govment (CPP-est. Government). On the contrary, not invoking it will gain further sympathy from the already enraged public. Nor will invoking it make any difference.
After following the news and events throughout the day to this evening, I am convinced there were thugs embedded among protesters who immediately responded to the violence of uniformed forces in order to set the stage for the arrests and legal proceeding against the CNRP elected MPs.
And their arrest is to force one issue among many: will these CNRP elected MPs argue for their parliamentary immunity? The issue hinges on when this right attach.
The risible charges of insurrection and incitement to commit a felony run counter to everything these CNRP detainees have advocated publicly time and again. Not only are these individuals not capable of violence or its advocacy, they as part of the larger CNRP policy have trained on countless occasions on non-violence mass protests.
Since 19 July 2013, the CNRP has led countless massive demonstrations which emphasized non-violence and peace.
There have only been two exceptions -- January 3 and this July 15 -- and they arose under highly questionable circumstances and timing.
- Theary, 16 July 2014 evening, updated night
MP-elect, chief of CNRP security Long Ry and MP-elect for Kampong Speu Nuth Romduol are on the list to be questioned, which could lead to their arrest.
- Theary, 16 July 2014 evening
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FREE
the 5 CNRP elected-MPs
and CNRP Youth Leader NOW!
6 CNRP officials detained and scores injured in violent clashes near Democracy Square Phnom Penh, 15 July 2014
We must condemn all forms of violence! It is heartbreaking to see the images and videos from yesterday.
An immediate thought occurred as I viewed these images in light of the overt threat of violence by Phnom Penh Municipality the day before:
WHO were the men who engaged in senselessly beating and kicking and pounding rock on the heads of the security guards? Were they hired to be part of the protesters to jump immediately and pounce the security guards (as seen from the videos) to set the pretext for legal action against CNRP officials to once and for all end the challenge to Democracy Square?
Or, were they genuine protesters who could no longer restrain their impatience with this Hun Xen regime?
I had similar thoughts at the violence clashes of January 2 and 3 earlier this year, when 4 workers were left dead, in a clash where protesters also responded to the violence with violence.
At these two events, the circumstances raise probing questions, whether hired thugs were not embedded into the protesters to respond with violence? The images of the violent protesters also fit the type of civilian thugs hired by the authority in other protests. On the day before, the thuggerish regime threatened violence. Excerpt from Freedom Park Braces for Violence, Phnom Penh Post, 14 July 2014:
"Elected lawmakers from the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party will be beaten by security forces if they are perceived to be violating the law during their visit to Freedom Park this morning, the Ministry of Interior said yesterday. "Ministry spokesman Khieu Sopheak reasoned that because the opposition members are not considered lawmakers until they take their seats in the National Assembly, which they have boycotted to protest last year’s elections, security forces are permitted to use violence against them.
Is this Hun Xen and thuggerish regime capable of embedding thugs? An easy, resounding YES!
Did this Hun Xen and thuggish regime forget about this capability to embed thugs at this protest, especially as their frustrations mount re the political stalemate, with the the Democracy Square being the most visible and antagonistic issue? OF COURSE NOT!
Has this Hun Xen and thuggish regime resort to violence, murders, and the kangaroo court before when they are frustrated with political stalemate in times past? YES! Think Chea Vichea and the wave of violence during that 2003 election stalemate!
Does this Hun Xen and thuggish regime have a strong motive for the disguised thug "protesters" to engage in violence THIS time around? An easy, resounding YES! To justify their use of violence and strong-handed tactics in suppressing the "violent protesters" then and in the future. Generally, to put pressure on the CNRP to join the National Assembly.
- Theary, 16 July 2014
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Protesters and police clash in Cambodia
CNRP MPs-elect and senior officials Mu Sochua, Men Sothavrin, Keo Phirum, Ho Vann, Real Khemarin arrested. I know 3 of these 5 as friends. It should be noted that tthree of the 5 CNRP officials have dual nationalities: Sochua Mu, Khmer / US; Men's Sothavarin, Khmer / French; Phirum Keo, Khmer / NZ Kiwi My interview with the Financial Times has been moved to later this afternoon. Just gave a scathing interview to ABC Radio Australia (English) on this matter, very nasal-sounding for those who will happen to listen the broadcast as I'm still futilely trying to rid of the cold since Friday, even after 4 boxes of tissue, to no avail. Excerpt: This anachronistic Hun Sen regime is futilely attempting to cage democracy and freedom; it is a risible attempt that will only further anger the people. The security forces incited the violence, started the violence. It was unfortunate that the protesters responded with violence, but this is the exception and not the norm. The arrest of CNRP elected MPs will only increase their popularity, as these individuals, particularly Mu Sochua, have international stature. It would be really stupid if any harm comes to them. These individuals will not back down; they're highly principled.
- Theary, 15 July 2014
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Hun Sen's CPP umbilical cord to Vietnam
We Cambodians in our violent, ugly rant against Vietnamese PEOPLE living illegally in Cambodia have lost almost all credibility to speak about REAL, URGENT territorial annexation and predatory POLICIES (airlines, ICT, to name but two). We must learn to distinguish between the AGGRESSIVE, PREDATORY POLICY of Vietnam via its puppet Hun Xen and the CPP and the Vietnamese PEOPLE, often poor and tools of their government in flooding Cambodia, not unlike in a narrow sense the Jews flooding Palestine. The way to deal with illegal immigration is not the way of the Burmese monks against the Rohyingas. ALWAYS, and ANYWHERE, VIOLENCE IS NEVER THE ANSWER. Rather than expend the negative, aggressive energy against PEOPLE, work to remove this ILLEGAL HUN SEN government AND DEVELOP THE MIND (like the Singaporeans, like the Jews) as well as the HEART. We must do away with ugly speech, which means, LEARN NEW VOCABULARY to lessen the urge for speech of emotion. New vocabulary will allow speech from the MIND and less from the emotional heart. New vocabulary (from LEARNING which is both formal education and reflected experiences) WITH wisdom of the heart will broaden the needed ability to put thoughts and ideas which are struggling with us now for expression. When we are frustrated with injustice and lack the ability to communicate ideas and to parse concepts, it's not then surprising that we should resort to our base nature, our venting, as human nature is already inclined in that direction. Learning and reflection, will not necessarily assure, but at least can help to stem our base nature.
- Theary Seng, 8 July 2014
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Cambodia is a daily battlefield for the majority poor
RFA A group of villagers in central Cambodia involved in a long-running land dispute with a company belonging to the wife of Mines Minister Suy Sem used machetes and sticks on Monday to protect their leaders from being arrested by about 200 policemen
Everywhere in Cambodia is a war zone for the poor, the majority Cambodians, inlcluding Phnom Penh. We the elites have our enclaves where we can escape the daily violence of normal life in cafes, villas and NGO offices.
- Theary, 8 July 2014
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Inside Cambodia's SHOCKING Trade The Guardian | 6 July 2014
[T]he trade in virgins is one of the most endemic forms of sexual exploitation in Cambodia. It is a market sustained by severe poverty and ingrained gender inequality.... Dishonesty aside, the greatest pitfall of [Somaly Mam's] fraudulence was not so much that it misrepresented the scale of the problem. It was that it misrepresented the solutions. In promoting herself – and allowing others to do it for her – as a survivor single-handedly rescuing girls from evil predators, she made finding answers seem all too easy.... He mentions a case last year of a senior military officer who was diagnosed with cancer and given one year to live. His wife agreed to let the man use more than £1m of their family money to "enjoy himself" before he died. "We knew he was buying a new virgin every week, but there was nothing we could do," says the policeman... He is someone whose name crops up repeatedly in relation to the virgin trade among journalists and activists in Cambodia. (It is not the same politician who bought Dara.) Uy said the man went further than purchasing virgins for his immediate pleasure – he "reserved" younger girls for the future. "He asked mothers to bring their underage daughters to the beer garden after-hours," she explains. "Then he chose the ones he liked, and gave their mothers some money every week to buy rice until the girls grew up." A mutual arrangement was made, she adds, that he would buy their virginity when they reached adolescence.
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Working ‘mother’ kept child chained Phnom Penh Post | 7 July 2014
Police and rights group Adhoc found the small girl sitting on the floor with a chain padlocked around her ankle, securing her to a building post. She told police that once, desperately thirsty, she drank her own urine.... The girl moved in with the suspect as collateral for a loan the girl’s biological mother borrowed from the woman about two years ago, she told police.... The suspect, who worked as a farmer at a plantation a kilometre or so from the house, chained the toddler each workday from 7am to 11am and then from 1pm to 5pm, she told police.
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Incredible sight of the elephant that cried: For 50 years, Raju was held in spiked shackles which cut his legs, forced to beg, beaten and abused. On the day he was released tears rolled down his face Daily Mail | 6 July 2014
Raju the elephant was rescued by a team from North London-based charity Wildlife SOS after suffering for 50 years in the Uttar Pradesh area of India. Every day, the majestic animal was forced to hold out his trunk and beg for a few coins from passers-by - surviving only on plastic and paper for food. He was left bleeding from spiked shackles (top left) and was living on hand-outs from passing tourists after he was captured and tied up by his 'owner'. However, after 50 years of torture, the animal cried tears of relief (centre) after he was rescued in a daring midnight operation (bottom left) - fittingly on American Independence Day - and taken to the charity's Elephant Conservation and Care Centre at Mathura, south-east of Delhi (right).
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Marge (Jan. 2008), Wally (2 May 2014).
The loss is indescribable, yet too raw for words.
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We need to reduce our "doublespeak"
This 18-page legal brief HOW IS THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY FORMED? has exceeded 360,000 hits... If this is the simple truth, then the issue is not one of comprehension, BUT rather of INTEGRITY, of deleting the deleterious "DOUBLESPEAK" that we regularly engage in in deliberately distorting, disguising the nature of the truth. We must more and more reduce that"doublespeak" that 'is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind" (Orwell).
* * * Relatedly, posted 28 March 2012 And if all others accepted the lie which the Party imposed--if all records told the same tale--then the lie passed into history and became truth. "Who controls the past," ran the Party slogan, "controls the future: who controls the present controls the past." "Doublethink": To know and not to know, to be conscious of complete truthfulness while telling carefully constructed lies, to hold simultaneously two opinions which cancelled out, knowing them to be contradictory and believing in both of them, to use logic against logic, to repudiate morality while laying claim to it, to believe that democracy was impossible and that the Party was the guardian of democracy... - George Orwell's 1984 The basic question which Orwell raises is whether there is any such thing as "truth." "Reality," so the ruling party holds, "is not external. Reality exists in the human mind and nowhere else . . . whatever the Party holds to be truth is truth" . . . An American writer, Alan Harrington...has coined an excellent expression for the contemporary concept of truth: "mobile truth" . . . It is one of the most characteristic and destructive developments of our own society that man, becoming more and more of an instrument, transforms reality more and more into something relative to his interests and functions. - Erich Fromm, Afterword to Orwell's 1984 (Signet Classic, 1961)
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Bloody Return to Freedom Park Sunday, 26 Jan. 2014
All photos: Theary C. Seng
(go to Facebook, 26 Jan. 2014 for more photos and corresponding captions / narratives)
I spent 10-15 minutes in front if this group among their leaders asking them: are you here to protect us or wage war on us? Here to she'd more blood of monks and innocent civilians, your parents and siblings? It is our right to be here, my right to be here...
With the courageous(!!!) lauk Yeay Khuon Nget
Images / Videos 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
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Wisdom from Neang Delilah
Lioness Delilah contemplative about the violence of this morning in this road trip with Toulouse uncle to Sre Ampil to meet with Lauk Pou Son Soubert and his children and visiting friends for lunch Neang Delilah says:
STOP THE VIOLENCE.
It's so uncool.
And it makes everyone sad ; (
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Cambodian Unionists Mark Murder of Prominent Labor Leader (AFP | 22 Jan. 2014)
Photos 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
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In Remembrance of Chea Vichea
Peaceful March on 10th Anniversary of his Assassination 22 Jan. 2004 - 22 Jan. 2014
Law on Peaceful Assembly in Cambodia "...the Free Trade Union as a matter of courtesy informed the Municipal of Phnom Penh about its plan to conduct a peaceful march in remembrance of Chea Vichea, the FTUWKC's slain union leader.
"As this is a march of remembrance and not a protest to make a public demand, the Free Trade Union is under no legal obligation to make a written notification to the authority... "Here, I am reminded of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.: 'There are some instances when a law is just on its face and unjust in its application.' (See his Letter from Birmingham Jail.)" - Theary C. Seng, 21 Jan. 2014
Route of Peaceful March, 22 Jan. 2014, starting at 8:30 A.M.
https://app.box.com/s/lv1hr35ujb6c7qkx1uue
Click to read Joint Press Release of Free Trade Union and CIVICUS Cambodia
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Burden of Proof
Theary C. Seng Phnom Penh, 14 Jan. 2014 -- In light of the court summons for CNRP president and vice-president Sam Rainsy and Kem Sokha and union leader Rong Chhun and their appearance at the Phnom Penh Municipal Court today, I am again aghast at how easily this CPP regime violates basic principles of understanding, here the general (without the legal technicalities) idea of the burden of proof. As you read the article I had written in Jun 2008 published in The Phnom Penh Post, with a commentary on 30 Jan. 2010 published in KI Media, apply the principle to the current political turmoil and the threats of lawsuits against leaders representing garment workers.
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Hun Sen's War on the People
PLEASE, PLEASE, use discretion in posting images of the dead! We do not need to see an open bloody head or spilled out stomachs. An issue of respect AND emotional societal health. - Theary, 3 Jan. 2014
Go to Truth2Power Media for AGGREGATED news for more photos and both national and international coverage of fatal clashes, in both Khmer and English
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Happy New Year !!
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Cambodia Spring
For all AGGREGATED NEWS on Cambodia, I go to Truth2Power (T2P) Media
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LEAD WITH WISDOM
my gift arrived from Australia (on Christmas Eve)!!
What a BEAUTY!
Guess who's mentioned in Chapter 6?!
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Crackdown
on Christmas Eve Morning!
Read articles at Truth2Power Media TURMOIL in Phnom Penh this CHRISTMAS EVE -- Please help us to monitor during this holiday season, the time that this autocratic CPP regime normally cracks down on peaceful Cambodian demonstrators and activists, knowing that the world is busy celebrating Christmas and New Year.
- Theary, 24 Dec. 2013
Celebrating CHRISTMAS EVE at my sister-in-law's restaurant "Chenda;s BBQ" in Boeung Keng Kang I, immediately behind Lucky Market, corner of Trasaek Paem (Street 63) and street behind Lucky Market, next to Tokyo (Central) Hotel -- here, the CNRP youth leaders are celebrating Christmas Eve with Senators Mardi Seng and Vannol Teav after their many successful daily protest.
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GIVE THANKS!
(click to watch video)
ABC News (Foreign Correspondent) | CNN (World Untold Stories Film interview with me at Preah Vihear in 2007
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First day of 3-day Protest and March to UNOHCHR 23 Oct. 2013 (22nd anniversary of Paris Peace Agreements) More photos on KI Media 1 | 2 | 3 | 4
Go to my Facebook pages for captions to these and other photos.
X. LAW TALK 20 YEARS OF CAMBODIAN CONSTITUTION Moving towards implementation of Constitutional Law? 11.-13.10.2013 Sihanoukville Province, Independence Hotel
My presentation on the first day was on The Right to Vote
Board of Trustees Meeting Ms. Theary C. Seng attending as Board President Tagaytay, The Philippines | 2 Sept. 2013
Sam Rainsy Returns
to a Rapturous
Hero's Welcome
Photos: Theary C. Seng, 19 July 2013 More images taken by me from the truck carrying Sam Rainsy at my Facebook accounts and in KI-Media 1 | 2 | 3 | 4
Global Convening to End Mass Atrocities Istanbul (16-21 June 2013) Istanbul, Turkey's largest city at 15 to 17 million people, is magical, as exquisitely stunning as one can imagine it to be and more (!!). Also known as Constantinople, named after the Roman Emperor Constantine who converted to Christianity in 4th century, it has now only one percent Christian out of 55 Million population.
I'm presenting on 19 June 2013 "Reconciling Peace with Justice in Cambodia: the Limitations of Tribunals to Address Mass Crimes"
https://www.box.com/s/g9go7em1jyvuhvy8jbjj
Click here to read narratives and see more photos, or go to Ms. Seng's Facebook accounts
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Theary C. Seng and the Road Ahead in Cambodia By Michelle Phipps-Evans Asian Fortune News, 3 Feb. 2013
The name Theary Chan Seng generates a fervor approaching reverence in the Cambodian community here and abroad. She is the Cambodian-born, American-educated lawyer and civil rights activist who founded the Cambodian Center for Justice & Reconciliation. It is a major component of another organization she serves as founding president, CIVICUS: Center for Cambodian Civic Education. This nonprofit group is dedicated to promoting an enlightened and responsible citizenry committed to democratic principles. It is actively engaged in the practice of democracy and reconciliation in Cambodia and the larger, globalized world. So who really is Seng, the person? She is a survivor of the Khmer Rouge (KR) regime, and has spent almost two decades advocating for its victims, many of whom were orphaned, widowed, abused or molested—victims who were like Seng herself.
. . . Obama, in Cambodia for a Meeting, Sidesteps the Ghosts of History
International Herald Tribune (Peter Baker, November 20, 2012)
Theary Seng, president of the Association of Khmer Rouge Victims in Cambodia, said, “President Obama should have met with the human rights community and activists challenging the Hun Sen regime, and while then and there, offer a public apology to the Cambodian people for the illegal U.S. bombings, which took the lives of half a million Cambodians and created the conditions for the Khmer Rouge genocide.”
Click here to read this complete news analysis
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Protests Greet Obama's Visit International Herald Tribune / New York Times PHNOM PENH — Theary Seng was taking aim with precision and anger. The 41-year-old U.S.-trained lawyer and a regular on Cambodia’s crowded protest circuit was about to throw a dart at a poster of former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. Kissinger is one of 13 politicians and senior Khmer Rouge leaders in a dart game created by Poetic Justice, a nongovernmental organization run by Theary Seng that highlights deficiencies of the special U.N.-backed tribunal judging the Khmer Rouge’s crimes. Each player gets five throws. A bull’s-eye is worth seven points. The highest score wins. Last Sunday afternoon, Theary Seng and three members of her staff were playing on Phnom Penh’s riverfront opposite the storied Foreign Correspondents’ Club. On this occasion — the fourth time the game has been staged in public — the point was to draw attention to the narrow scope of the Khmer Rouge tribunal ahead of President Barack Obama’s visit for a summit meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. Click here to read full article.
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Watch the TV3 New Zealand broadcast with Mike McRoberts (aired 21 Nov. 2012) At ASEAN summit, trade overshadows human rights
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Open Letter to U.S. President Barack Obama Published in The Phnom Penh Post, 20 November 2012
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Theary Seng and some 30 security (plus more embedded in Wat Phnom Penh and Sunway Hotel) Narrative of harassment and images of Ms. Theary C. Seng's stand-off with at least 30 big bulky, heavily armed security in front of US Embassy Phnom Penh (Tuesday, 19 Nov. 2012)
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Emotional Violence of Past Poetic Justice Dart Games flared into Physical Assault on Ms. Theary C. Seng and those around her along the Riverfront, Sunday, 18 Nov. 2012
Reykjavik, Iceland SESSION 3: CALLING 4.15 - 5.45 pm Led by Miriam Subirana, Foundation for a Culture of Peace The session includes: Theary C. Seng, Founder, Centre for Justice and Reconciliation, Cambodia
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More at Association of Khmer Rouge Victims in Cambodia... "Cambodia's Khmer Rouge Court 'Dying' ABC News film, aired 16 Oct. 2012
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Khmer Rouge defendant Ieng Thirith ruled unfit for Cambodian genocide trial due to dementia The Washington Post, 13 Sept. 2012 Of course if she is seriously ill with Alzheimer’s, she should be released. There is no point in trying an incapacitated person,” said Theary Seng, a human rights advocate representing some victims who are allowed a role in the proceedings. “The point is the (tribunal) is so late in coming. The political foot-dragging and inertia has caused this travesty of justice.”
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Poetic Justice and Civil Party Withdrawal in the News Nov. 2011 Ex-leader: Khmer Rouge atrocities are 'fairy tale' AP Newswire, 23 Nov. 2011 "I'm not surprised that Nuon Chea, Khieu Samphan and Ieng Sary continue to deny their crimes as the charges against them of genocide, war crimes are very serious," said Theary Seng, a Cambodian lawyer and human rights activist who lost family members under their regime. "Even if I am not surprised, I am however disgusted by their lack of remorse for the suffering they caused. They are delusional in their denial in light of the weight of evidence against them - the mounds of skulls and bones, the horrific testimonies from every survivor of cruelty, the magnitude and scope of evil unleashed by them across the whole of Cambodia."
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"Khmer Rouge trial is failing Cambodian victims of Pol Pot's regime" Human Rights Watch Brad Adams' editorial The Guardian, 26 Nov. 2011
. . . "Justice Denied" Douglas Gillison, Foreign Policy Magazine, 23 Nov. 2011 . . . Deputy President of Victims Association, a Civil Party of the Orphans Class, Mr. CHEY Theara, Withdraws Civil Party Status, Denounces ECCC as Political Farce _______________________ PRESS RELEASE _______________________
Full statement in both Khmer and English in KI-Media. Here, if ISP censors in Cambodia.
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Khmer Rouge Trial Missing a Marquee Defendant Wall Street Journal, 21 Nov. 2011 “The release of Ieng Thirith is only one reflection of how incredibly late these trials are coming into place,” said Theary Seng, founder of the Cambodian Center for Justice and Reconciliation and herself, too, a victim of the Khmer Rouge regime, having lost her parents and spent five months in prison. She has withdrawn from the tribunal process, and instead put her energy into organizing public games of darts featuring the faces of the Khmer Rouge leaders along Phnom Penh’s riverfront – a “way of release” following victims’ frustrations with the trial process, mixed with “dark humor,” she said.
But the trial - a joint enterprise between the UN and Cambodia - has been heavily criticised. Theary Seng, whose parents were killed by the Khmer Rouge, said putting three people on trial for the deaths of 1.7 million simply wasn't enough. (BBC News, 21 Nov. 2011)
Khmer Rouge Trial: Cambodia Awaits Answers BBC News, 21 Nov. 2011
. . . AFP, 21 Nov. 2011 Khmer Rouge survivor Theary Seng told AFP she was "frustrated beyond words" that only Khieu Samphan looked likely to shed light on what happened. "The people want to know who is behind the Khmer Rouge, we want to see and understand the larger picture and we're not going to get that," she said.
From Tragedy to Sham in Cambodia Asia Times Online, 19 Nov. 2011 In KI-Media Others have gone further, arguing that the time might be ripe for the UN to pull the plug on the controversy-plagued court altogether. Last week, Theary Seng, a Cambodian-American survivor of the Khmer Rouge regime and a prominent advocate for victims' rights, withdrew her status as a civil party to the court, describing the proceedings as a "complete sham". She said the UN should threaten to withdraw after setting some clear conditions for its continued participation. By pressing ahead, Seng said, the world body runs the risk of rubber-stamping a flawed process and further embedding cynicism in the Cambodian population. "I understand the unwieldiness of any large bureaucracy, but at the end of the day it comes down to personalities, and there have been extremely weak personalities," she said. "In this regard, the UN is complicit."
In the End, Loss of Faith in Tribunal: Former Complainant Hello VOA Special with Theary Seng, 16 Nov. 2011 Khmer Rouge Victim Quits Tribunal Saying UN-backed Court is a Sham DPA, 15 Nov. 2011
Prominent Victims' Advocate Quits Khmer Rouge Tribunal VOA International/English, 15 Nov. 2011 KRT Critic Offers 'Poetic Justice' The Phnom Penh Post, 16 Nov. 2011 Theary Seng Denounces Tribunal; Introduces Dartboard Scheme The Cambodia Daily, 16 Nov. 2011
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Click here to read the full press release...
More information at "ECCC Civil Party" More information at Association of Khmer Rouge Victims in Cambodia Theary Seng Criticizes KRT as "Political Farce" The Phnom Penh Post, 10 Nov. 2011
Radio Free Asia (both AM and PM broadcasts on 10 Nov. 2011)
Cambodian-American Lawyer Withdraws her Civil Party Status Voice of America Khmer Service, 10 Nov. 2011
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