Hun Manet Torture Case Advances
Cambodia Daily | 3 September 2016
A U.S. judge ruled on
Thursday that a lawsuit filed by jailed CNRP official Meach Sovannara against
Prime Minister Hun Sen’s eldest son, Hun Manet, for “torture through arbitrary,
extra-legal and long-term detention” could move forward, a lawyer for the
opposition figure said on Friday.
Mr. Sovannara, who is a
U.S. citizen, is serving a 20-year prison sentence in Cambodia for charges
widely perceived to be politically motivated. In April, his lawyers asked that
Lieutenant General Manet and the Cambodian government face trial for damages
resulting from Mr. Sovannara’s imprisonment.
During the lawsuit’s first
hearing, Judge George Wu of the U.S. District Court of California in Los
Angeles ruled that the case should move to the next stage of “jurisdictional
discovery,” said Morton Sklar, Mr. Sovannara’s lawyer.
“In short, Judge Wu
accepted our argument that jurisdictional discovery was the best method for
obtaining factual information on the case,” Mr. Sklar said in an email.
“The result of this order
is that it will open the door to securing important information disclosure from
the Hun Sen government that has not been available before,” he said.
Although the case is still
in a preliminary stage, Mr. Sklar said the ruling illustrated that the lawsuit
had a “no nonsense judge” who was taking the case “very seriously.”
The lawyer told Radio Free Asia that the order paved the way for the Cambodian government to either cooperate with the court, or automatically lose the case.
“The government of
Cambodia and Hun Manet have a choice: Either they can agree and let the
court-ordered jurisdictional discovery proceed, so that we can ask these
questions and get the answers, or they could say: ‘No, we’re not going to
participate in this,’ in which case, under the court rules, they have
automatically lost the case and we have a verdict against both the government
of Cambodia and Hun Manet,” Mr. Sklar told the broadcaster.
The Cambodian government
last week sent a notice to the California court acknowledging that it had
received the complaint, which means it is now an official party to the case,
Mr. Sklar said in an email.
“This is the first step in
the right direction towards holding the Hun Sen government accountable in the
United States courts,” he said.
“The government of Cambodia and Hun Manet have a choice: Either they can agree and let the court-ordered jurisdictional discovery proceed, so that we can ask these questions and get the answers, or they could say: ‘No, we’re not going to participate in this,’ in which case, under the court rules, they have automatically lost the case and we have a verdict against both the government of Cambodia and Hun Manet,” Mr. Sklar told the broadcaster.
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I know Cambodia government will supply the information. Nor harm will be done, then the case will be dropped. There is nothing to move forward.
You can explore all you want, but there will be nothing to pin against Hun Manet specifically. It's really a waste of time but I enjoy watching these ineffective effort spun by the Opposition.
This is an indication that the Opposition really don't have anything else credible to go on. CPP is winning big time. All they have to do is patiently and play a low key and wait it out. CNRP is pressed against the corner with their mistakes.
Kem Sokha must never go around to have sex with the young girls. You keep doing the wrong things, you will get caught someday, and you did.
Kem Sokha's respond to the problem is so weak. He dragged it out and drained the supporters surrounding him. He must resign then makes room for a new better leader, or comes challenging the sex recordings. Do it like Bill Clinton, "I never had a sexual relationship with that woman [Monica Lewinsky]."
His silence and refusal to make a clear statement is an obvious indication of his complicity. I think Kem Sokha learned from Bill Clinton's bust. And he resorts to silence.
The brainwashed poster [Anonymous9:13 AM] of the beast CPP regime is not aware that T2P [truth to power] Media site when it comes it comes the comment of the poster [Anonymous9:13 AM] which did not tell the truth. LOL. I think it is laughable and it is a shame of this poster [Anonymous9:13 AM]. Wonder why this poster is here. It does not make any sense.
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