The Appeal Court this morning upheld a verdict ordering the re-investigation of the case of two Radio Free Asia journalists, Uon Chhin and Yeang Sothearin, who were charged with Articles 38 and 39 of the human trafficking law.
LICADHO continues to call for all charges against the two former journalists to be immediately dropped.

The Appeal Court verdict this morning upheld part of the Phnom Penh Municipal Court’s decision in October to further investigate charges under Articles 38 and 39 of the human trafficking law. The Appeal Court is scheduled to rule on the separate charges of Article 445 of the Criminal Code for activities which can “undermine national defence” on 20 January 2020.

This further investigation reportedly includes conducting additional forensic analysis on hard drives that have been in the court’s possession for more than 18 months. There has been no timeframe presented by the court for this “reinvestigation”, no evidence of progress since the October decision, and no credible evidence thus far presented by the court.

Both former reporters have denied the authorities’ accusations, and local and international rights groups and press freedom advocates have repeatedly called for the immediate dropping of all charges against the former journalists.

Chhin and Sothearin were arrested on 14 November 2017 and spent more than nine months in pre-trial detention before being granted bail. The two men worked for RFA prior to the outlet shuttering its Phnom Penh bureau as a result of a wave of government’s repression that silenced a number of independent media outlets, including RFA’s FM radio broadcasts.