25-10-2024 (PHNOM PENH) A prominent Cambodian investigative journalist, Mech Dara, has been released on bail following three weeks of detention over allegations of inciting social unrest, in a case that has drawn international attention and concern from human rights advocates.
The release comes just one day after authorities circulated a controversial video showing the journalist, who received recognition from US Secretary of State Antony Blinken last year, making an apparent apology while in prison attire. The footage was accompanied by what officials claim to be a handwritten three-page letter of contrition from Dara.
The journalist, whose groundbreaking work exposed large-scale human trafficking operations and corruption in Cambodia, had been held in pre-trial detention since 1 October. He faces potential imprisonment of up to two years over what the Phnom Penh Municipal Court described as “provocative” and “false” communications regarding a quarry operation on a sacred mountain site.
In the government-released video, Dara is seen expressing remorse, stating: “I conveyed false information that affected the leaders and the country’s reputation.” The circumstances under which this statement was recorded have not been disclosed.
Dara’s lawyer, Duch Piseth, confirmed his client’s release from Kandal provincial jail, where the journalist made brief remarks to waiting reporters before departing the facility.
The case has attracted significant diplomatic attention, particularly from the United States, where Dara was lauded last year for his investigative work uncovering massive scam compounds operating with trafficked labour within Cambodia’s borders.
