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Cops confiscate illegal police and RCAF licence plates

Phnom Penh Traffic Police at the junction of Monireth and Mao Tse Tung boulevards, where they are confiscating licence plates. (Photo by: SOVANN PHILONG)

Wednesday, 06 May 2009
Written by Sam Rith and Robbie Corey-Boulet The Phnom Penh Post

Changing Plates

• 140 drivers with RCAF plates have registered to switch to civilian plates by Tuesday
• 60 drivers with police plates have also registered
• The applications should take about one week to process

Crackdown on unauthorised plates has led to a surge in applications for civilian plates at vehicle registration office.

POLICE on Tuesday continued removing unauthorised police and military licence plates from vehicles throughout the capital, but officers said they had not yet begun administering punishments specifically outlined in the law that prohibits civilians and low-ranking officials from using such plates.

Sar Leng, deputy director of the Ministry of Interior's Traffic Office, said the ministry on Monday received 25 police plates that had been removed from vehicles not authorised to bear them.Traffic Police officers have been tasked with removing police plates, while Military Police officers are in charge of removing RCAF plates.

National Police Chief Neth Savoeun wrote a letter in February to officers instructing them to begin enforcing in May a law already on the books that outlaws the use of unauthorised plates.

Article 91 of the Land Traffic Law, which went into effect in March 2007, gave the drivers of private vehicles bearing such plates one year to switch to private plates.

The law stipulates that violators face two to five years in prison and a fine of between 4 million riels and 10 million riels (US$970 and $2,424), but Phnom Penh Traffic Police Chief Tin Prasoeur said he did not know when officers would begin administering fines or making arrests. He said he would wait until he received approval "from the top" before taking those steps.

Rush to register

The onset of the crackdown on unauthorised plates has triggered a flood of applications this week at the capital's vehicle registration office, said Tat Sreng, its director. As of Tuesday morning, the owners of 140 cars bearing RCAF plates and 60 bearing police plates had visited the office to register for civilian plates, he said.

He said many of the registrants had been motivated to switch to civilian plates after Prime Minister Hun Sen gave a speech last week warning against the use of unauthorised plates.

Tat Sreng said the applications would in most cases take about one week to process.

Hun Sen said in his speech last week that vehicles bearing unauthorised police and military plates would "be included as property of the state".

The Land Traffic Law does not stipulate that vehicles with unauthorised plates will be confiscated.

Senior CPP lawmaker Cheam Yeap referred to the threat of vehicle seizure as "a stick or a sharp sword to warn" violators.

Sar Leng said he did not believe it would be necessary for the government to seize cars, noting that the crackdown combined with Hun Sen's remarks had led many violators to take steps to comply with the law.

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SRP lawyer faces Bar inspection

Written by Meas Sokchea

Wednesday, 06 May 2009

From the Phnom Penh Post

Comment: in Cambodia, when you want to sue a powerful man like PM Hun Sen, not only you who may lose the case, but your lawyer will probably be disbarred and explicitly intimidated. We are so happy that the real skin of a dictator has gradually appeared to the world while the Cambodian public has stayed calm. The world is overwhelmingly paying attention to a Cambodian woman who dare to stand up to legally face with a dictator in order to seek justice for millions of the weak and the victims!

PM's defamation complaint could lead to disbarment.

Photo by: Sovann Philong
Mu Sochua at the press conference at which she announced plans to sue Hun Sen.

THE lawyer representing opposition MP Mu Sochua in her defamation case against Prime Minister Hun Sen could be banned from practising law if the Cambodian Bar Association rules that his comments at a recent press conference were defamatory to Hun Sen.

Hun Sen's lawyer, Ky Tech, told the Post that Kong Sam Onn would be sued as well if the Bar Association found he was at fault.

"I filed a complaint with the Bar Association on Monday," Ky Tech said. "If the Bar's disciplinary council finds he was at fault, he will be stripped of his licence to practise, and Mu Sochua will need to find another lawyer to take on her case."

Ky Tech said Kong Sam Onn was at fault because of statements he made when outlining his client's case at an April 23 press conference called by Mu Sochua, a lawmaker for the Sam Rainsy Party, to announce she would sue Hun Sen for defamation.

Mu Sochua's case stems from what she said are derogatory comments about an unnamed woman that were made by Hun Sen and broadcast nationally. Mu Sochua said those comments clearly referred to her.

The lawsuit resulted in a countersuit by Hun Sen, who claimed that Mu Sochua had defamed him by saying the comments he made referred to her.

Kong Sam Onn rejected the allegation that he had defamed Hun Sen. He told the Post that he had made no errors that would justify his expulsion from the Bar. His comments at the press conference simply outlined his client's case and were not defamatory, he said.

"If I have made a mistake, then it would be the first mistake and would not warrant ousting me from the Bar because I am not a dishonest man," he said. "I will be very sorry if I am ousted from my profession, but I am not strong enough to face them down."

Kong Sam Onn said all of his clients - Mu Sochua included - would need to find new lawyers if he were disbarred.

"Then I will become a simple person without a job, and I will have to look for another job to which I can devote my life," he said.

Mu Sochua told the Post on Tuesday that she would be very sorry to see her lawyer disbarred. She said the threats to her lawyer had been a heavy burden and meant he would likely be unable to defend her in court.

"So I would like to appeal to the Bar Association to consider this issue properly and in terms of the law, and I would like to call on all lawyers who have a conscience to seek justice under the law," she said.

"I will find another lawyer, but it is difficult for me to enjoy equal rights under the law."

The president of the Bar Association, Chiv Songhak, told the Post Tuesday that his organisation had received Ky Tech's complaint and said the issue was under inspection.

"We have already sent the complaint to the inspectorate, and they are working on the case," he said.

"The next step will be its consideration by the disciplinary council."

Potential punishment
Chiv Songhak said Kong Sam Onn could face three types of punishment: receiving a warning, having his licence suspended or being disbarred as a legal professional.

"But I can't say whether [Kong Sam Onn] has made a mistake or not," Chiv Songhak said, adding that it was for the disciplinary council to decide the case.

Heang Rithy, director of the Cambodian National Research Organisation, who also holds a doctorate in law, said Kong Sam Onn could be sued for alledgedly defamatory comments made at the press conference - if he, in fact, made any.

He said that defamation was only a minor offence under Bar Association rules, although the rules left it unclear whether defamation could lead to a member being expelled.

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