National Assembly amended Article 63 of the United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia Penal Code 1992 (the “UNTAC Code”), only immediate imprisonment for defamation was removed. The removal of imprisonment as punishment cannot be considered decriminalization, when the offense is still tried in criminal courts. Unfortunately, when the new Criminal Code came into effect on 30 November 2010, replacing the UNTAC Code, it maintained the criminal status of defamation under Article 305. Moreover, some of the restrictions on freedom of expression contained in the UNTAC Code, such as the disinformation regulations in Article 62, still remain in force and have been used to harass opposition, human rights defenders and the media. 3 Article 305 of the Criminal Code defines defamation as follows: “Defamation shall mean any allegation or charge made in bad faith which tends to injure the honor or reputation of a person or an institution.” The Criminal Code widened the scope of defamation so that the defamation of institutions as well as individuals could result in criminal charges, whereas the UNTAC Penal Code had only specified individuals. Article 305 also lowered the threshold at which defamation charges can be instigated. Under the UNTAC Penal Code, an allegation would have to actually harm reputation or honor, while Article 305 states that a charge need only to tend to harm reputation or honor. Fines for defamation charges range between one hundred thousand and ten million Riels, approximately equating to $25 to $2,500 in United States dollars.4 This is no small sum in a country where the minimum wage of the garment sector has just been raised to $100 per month.5 In addition, despite the removal of imprisonment as a direct consequence of defamation charges, Cambodians can be imprisoned under Article 525 of the Cambodian Criminal Procedure Code 2007 (the “CCPC”) for unpaid fines.6 Under the CCPC, the terms of imprisonment range from ten days to two years. A Cambodian could receive six months imprisonment for the non-payment of a fine between five million and one Riel, and ten million Riel, the maximum fine for defamation.7 In addition to Article 305, other articles of the Criminal Code provide further infringements on freedom of expression, including public insult (Article 307), the questioning of a judicial decision (Article 523), and the insult of a public official (Article 502). These laws are often vague, leaving them open to the interpretation of the court system. This wide judicial discretion to interpret the law, often results in multiple judges applying and interpreting the law in different ways, as it would in any nation’s legal system. In addition, Cambodia’s Law on the Press 1995 (the “Press Law”) provides for imprecise restrictions on publications, including material “which affects the good custom of society.”8 Just as Article 305 of the Criminal Code allows a court to decide what “tends to injure honor or reputation,” the phrases in 3 For example the prison sentence for LICADHO employee Leang Sokchouen convicted of disinformation under Article 62 of the UNTAC Penal Code in 2010. See the LICADHO press release for more details, http://bit.ly/1gJoB4T. 4 Criminal Code, Article 305 http://bit.ly/1fInnbx 5 Aun Pheap and Colin Meyn, ‘Amid Strikes, Minister Raises Minimum Wage to $100.’ The Cambodia Daily (1 January 2014) http://bit.ly/1dtByPj 6 Under Article 525 of the CCPC, the penalty for non-payment of a fine is imprisonment. 7 CCHR, ‘Briefing Note: an overview of Cambodian laws relating to freedom of expression ” (Briefing Note) (October 2012) http://bit.ly/1kxh8sC 8 Article 13 of the Press Law. 2