Offences related to judicial decisions and investigations Case study: Denny Kwan Articles 522 and 523 criminalise publication of commentaries intending to put pressure on a court and to criticise a court decision, respectively. Article 522 provides that “any publication, prior to the final decision of the court, of any commentaries aiming at putting pressure on the court where a law suit is filed, in order to influence over the decision of the court” is punishable with up to six months imprisonment and a fine of up to one million riels (USD 240). Article 523 provides for the same penalties for “any act of criticizing a letter or a court decision aiming at creating disturbance of public orders or endangering institutions of the Kingdom of Cambodia.” These provisions create a real risk that they will be used abusively to harass and punish associations that legitimately seek to analyse, comment on and criticise judicial processes and decisions. In particular, for associations working in the field of human rights and the rule of law, large areas of their work could potentially fall within these vague and broadly drafted provisions, which are neither narrowly defined, transparent, nor easy to understand. In April 2017, the Cambodian actress Denny Kwan, who has more than 300,000 Facebook followers, was banned from appearing in any movie for a year. The Ministry of Culture found her clothes to have violated the 2010 Code of Conduct. She said she had only learned of the ban online.80 Summary and conclusion Certain trends can be identified from the analysis of the different laws involved in the criminalisation of expression online and from their implementation. These trends indicate a common purpose: reducing the scope of the right to freedom of expression in Cambodia. Deterrence Laws in Cambodia deter people from exercising their freedom of expression. Two deterrence strategies are recurring: • Vague terms: Laws in Cambodia often use broad and vague terms without defining them. Terms like “national security”, “immoral”, “public order” and “good customs of society” are subject to subjective and possibly arbitrary interpretation and threaten freedom of expression. Case studies indicate that these vague terms are consistently interpreted broadly and in a discriminatory manner. Such sweeping interpretations in turn deter individuals from exercising their freedom of expression. • High fines and prison sentences: The exercise of freedom of expression in a way that violates Cambodian laws can lead to heavy fines and prison sentences. With the exception of Article 502 of the Criminal Code (Insult of a Public Official), which provides for a fine from 1,000 riels (USD 0.2) to 100,000 riels (USD 24) and a prison sentence from one to six days, the fines mentioned in this report go from 100,000 riels (USD 24)81 to 300 million riels (USD 72,000)82 and the prison sentences from 10 days83 to 15 years.84 With a minimum wage of USD 153/ month in 2017 in Cambodia,85 most Cambodians Regulations and guidelines The Ministry of Culture’s 2010 Code of Conduct aims at promoting the “preservation, maintenance of arts, culture, tradition and the identity of the nation” and at preventing “any negative effects of the arts and tradition of the nation.”77 The most recent version of the Code has 12 guidelines.78 The Ministry of Culture’s Guidelines on Classification guide the Ministry in determining film ratings and whether or not a movie should be banned. One provision reads: “Movies which display lives of homosexual persons are clearly not in line with social values. Those movies should not promote or encourage homosexuality as appropriate.”79 77 Soumy, P. (2017, 27 April). Gov’t bans actress for a year for violating “Code of Conduct”. The Cambodia Daily, www.cambodiadaily.com/news/ govt-bans-actress-for-a-year-for-violating-code-of-conduct-128703 78 Sen David, S., & Maza, C. (2016, 28 September). Ministry’s code of conduct for artists closer to reality. The Phnom Penh Post. www.phnompenhpost.com/national/ ministrys-code-conduct-artists-closer-reality 79 Kijewski, L., & Meta, K. (2017, 9 May). Rules allowing censorship of depictions of homosexuality criticized. The Phnom Penh Post. www.phnompenhpost.com/national/ rules-allowing-censorship-depictions-homosexuality-criticised 80 Soumy, P. (2017, 27 April). Op. cit. 81 See, for example, Articles 93 and 97 of the Law on Telecommunications. 82 See Articles 80 and 81 of the Law on Telecommunications. 83 See Article 525 of the Cambodian Code of Criminal Procedure. 84 See Articles 80 and 81 of the Law on Telecommunications. 85 tradingeconomics.com/cambodia/minimum-wages 48 / Unshackling Expression