How independent is our justice system?
The lawsuit filed against Mr. Kong Som Onn, lawyer of MP Mu Sochua, came as a surprise if not only to Mr. Kong himself, but to all the legal practioners, and average people in the country and across the ocean. At the outset, it sound a bit more like childish - a joke or some sort, since there has not been such a case anyone, any where has ever heard of before. No such precedent any where in the world that some nutcase would even consider sueing a lawyer of a client for filing a complaint to the court. No, Mr. Ky Tech, the lawyer of PM Hun Sen, did in fact filed a case seeking some sort of punishment against Mr. Kong Som Onn for the reason he represented a view stated and filed by his client against the defendant who happened to be the Prime Minister of the country. One has to wonder, what happened if Mr. Kong Som Onn were to lodge a complaint in return against Mr. Ky Tech for taking him to the court in the first place? It seems like a fair game, isn't it? I doubt any Mr. or Mrs Justice in any Cambodian court would dare hearing Mr. Som Onn, if he were to persuit such action - a countersuit. The court would probably be scared of loosing his/her job, since it goes against the person who gave them the chair in the firt place. Unfortunately, most of the justices, if not all, are full-fledge members of the gov't ruling party, the CPP. It's unlikely that Mr. Kong's will receive a fair ruling given the pressure exerted by the PM Hun Sen and his lawyer. By the way, it just happened that Mr. Ky Tech was the former chair of the CBA and Mr. Hun Sen is a life-time member of the Association.
This particular lawsuit, is truly an interesting study case for our young quasi-democraticacy. It brings the world's attention, for regular folks, educators and legal scholars on the real fundermental issue facing Cambodian court and its justice system. It is truly unique by any legal standard, to say the least.
The question remain still, will the court be up to the challenge? Will it has enough courage to rule fairly and independtly on all legalities of the cases brough forward, including the charge brought against the PM Hun Sen by MP Mu Sochua? Will and can Mr. or Mrs justice, any justice who take up this case, go to sleep at night knowing that he or she can't rule against the strong man of the country for fear of political repercussion? The issue is the court independcy. For all intended and purposes, will the court lives up to its intended creation, in the name of one great institution among the three branches? Or it is simply content in its day-to-day role as merely a legal tool created and designed simply to rule and legalize the act of injustices. In this case, the case brought against the lawyer of MP Mu Sochua. He merely stated the view of his client. This case should be tossed out of the door as soon as it came in.
This particular action taken by the goverment is indicative to pure threat and intimidation. It shows the real face of Cambodian's camouflage-democracy. It disrespects the process and the rule of law, and it sent out a rather chilling message to all Cambodian lawyers who are not on the side of the government. This kind of behaviour must be repudiated to the strongest term possible by the court. The court must exert its independency and fair judgment.
This is the moment for the court to show the country and the world and it is independent, that it has the authority, legally enshrined in the constitution, to protect and defense justice and the rule of law without any interference or whatsoever from anyone, nor any institution. The world will be watching rather closely on how our Cambodian court handle this case. Truly interesting at best.
Until such time, we will continue to follow the court and the justice system in Cambodia.
