Doubts Over Lawsuit Against Manet

Doubts Over Lawsuit Against Manet

Opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party member Nhay Chamroeun announced last week that he will file lawsuits against the government and prime minister’s son Hun Manet in a US court.

He is seeking to hold them responsible for the actions of a large group including three members of the Prime Minister’s bodyguard unit who were convicted of beating him and opposition member Kong Saphea outside the National Assembly last year.

According to media reports, Morton Sklar, Mr. Chamroeun’s attorney, will rely on US statutes “that authorize civil claims by US citizens subjected to torture or violent physical attacks taking place abroad.”

Mr. Chamroeun said the reason for the lawsuit against Mr. Manet was “Hun Sen’s bodyguards are the ones who beat me and Mr. Manet is their deputy commander…[he] must be responsible.”

Mr. Chamroeun holds US and Cambodian citizenship and is patterning his lawsuit on one in a US court filed against Mr. Manet in April by opposition official Meach Sovannara, who is also a dual US-Cambodian citizen.

Mr. Sovannara was sentenced to 20 years in prison after being found guilty of insurrection after a protest in Freedom Park in Phnom Penh in 2014 descended into a brawl between opposition supporters and government-sponsored security guards.

Mr. Sovannara’s lawsuit seeks to hold Mr. Manet responsible for the acts of the security guards and is based on the same US statutes that Mr. Chamroeun is contemplating using.

Christopher Beres, Mr. Manet’s US attorney who is based in Phnom Penh, said he had not heard about the plans to submit a new case against his client, but had doubts that Mr. Manet could be held responsible.

“I’m not aware of any new lawsuit against General Manet,” he told Khmer Times.

“I think Chamroeun is ill advised and should consult an experienced trial attorney before he proceeds.”

Mr. Beres said the case against Mr. Manet was very weak because of the ruling in the Cambodian court in Mr. Chamroeun’s case.  

“General Manet was not involved in this incident. The Cambodian court determined that the three members of the bodyguard unit were not acting under orders, but that they acted independently after having been provoked and insulted by Chamroeun,” he said.

“These are the judicially determined facts. General Manet has no liability for the bodyguards’ actions. Any attempt at a lawsuit in the US against General Manet for this incident would fail on procedural and substantive grounds.

“From a procedural standpoint, the lawsuit Chamroeun contemplates would be doomed from the time of its filing. Absent proper service of process, a US Court would have no personal jurisdiction, no authority to compel General Manet to participate in litigation.

“Moreover, assuming proper service of process, a US court would have no subject matter jurisdiction, no authority to hear or determine Chamroeun’s claims.”

Mr. Beres also says there is no basis in US law for this proposed case.

“This is because neither of the US statutes Chamroeun seeks to use as the basis for his claims, that is, the Alien Tort Claims Act and the Anti-Terrorism Act, are applicable,” he said.

“The Alien Tort Claims Act allows foreign citizens to sue in US courts for human rights violations for conduct committed outside the United States, but Chamroeun is a US citizen. A US court cannot hear or determine his claims based on this law because he is a US citizen.

“The Anti-Terrorism Act allows US citizens injured by ‘international terrorism’ to sue in US courts and recover treble damages and attorneys’ fees, but Chamroeun’s claims do not meet the definition of ‘international terrorism.’

“A US court cannot hear or determine his claims based on this law because he was not injured by an act of international terrorism.

“Additionally, these acts require a claimant to exhaust his remedies under the law, Cambodian law in this instance, before they can be used. However, Chamroeun has taken no legal action to satisfy this requirement.”

Mr. Manet’s American lawyer says the case also has political overtones and that may contravene American law.  

“Chamroeun has said he will file complaints to put pressure on the Cambodian government,” he said. “As an officer of the court, my court, my message to radicals and politicians from foreign lands is beware. Stop trying to use the US legal system to antagonize your government.
“US courts can easily sanction parties – and their attorneys – for bringing suits without legal merit or for improper purposes.

“As for the government of the Royal Kingdom of Cambodia, it is immune from lawsuits of this nature. Cambodia is a sovereign just like the United States is a sovereign.

“Cambodia is a co-equal sovereign with the United States. Other principles of US law and international law apply.

“For example, under the act of state doctrine, US courts will not question the validity of the public acts of other sovereigns performed within their own borders, whether we’re talking about court decisions or military/police decisions regarding crowd management.”