Journalist Questioned For Interviewing Family in Land Dispute

Description

An online journalist with San Prum News was summoned for questioning on September 9 by the General Commissariat of National Police when a person, known as Mech Chanmuny, lodged a complaint.
On July 16, the journalist published an interview with a source about a land dispute in a family. The journalist said the source herself mentioned a person called Chanmuny was allegedly involved in the issue.
On July 18, Chanmuny’s lawyer sent a letter to the journalist, requesting the journalist to delete the video interview within 24 hours or face legal action. As of July 30, the journalist had not received any letter from the lawyer.
However, Chanmuny later filed a complaint with the General Commissariat of National Police against the journalist. The journalist said he was not aware of the complaint as the video was removed on August 2 following a discussion with his publisher.
The journalist was questioned from 9.40 am till 2 pm and allowed to go home after the two parties agreed to end the dispute as well as release a new video to clarify the previous video which does not involve Chanmuny.
During the police questioning, a group of online journalists gathered outside the General Commissariat of National Police to support the journalist. The group said the journalist should not be subjected to legal threats.

Information
Number of attacked persons or entities related to media
1
Do they work as freelance or media?
Yes
Position in media
Status of journalists
Gender
Male
Age
Country
Phnom Penh Capital
Full name or name of group
Identified
The name of perpetrator (individual/group)
Mech Chanmuny
Gender
Attack mention about gender background/sexual wording?
No
Date of incident
Type of incident
Criminal lawsuit/charge: Other charge
Please type the data source here (text)
CamboJA interviewed with affected journalist