Respecting the readers' rights to have access to information, the Directorate of

the Royal School for Judges and Prosecutors wishes to exercise his right of response

and bring to the attention of the Phnom Penh Post some inaccuracies which appeared

in the Phnom Penh Post dated from November 21 2003.

The article was titled "Hope for Justice lies in School for Judges", jointly

written by Caroline HUOT and Sam RITH. It contained a number of inaccuracies and

defamatory statements which the Directorate believes misled the readers and breached

their right to accurate, reliable information.

Regarding the inaccuracies, the Directorate of the School wishes to clarify that

the recruitment of the first intake of 50 student judges is not aimed to replace

judges and prosecutors who are working in the courts. Rather, it is to increase the

number of judges and prosecutors in the judiciary because that number is notoriously

insufficient to ensure administration of justice in this country.

Furthermore, student judges are not required to pay any tuition fees. To the contrary,

the Royal Government of Cambodia has approved in principle to provide a monthly allowance

for each student judge in the amount of 285,000 Riel.

Finally, the Directorate wishes to highlight that so far there is no indication to

assert that students who graduate from the school will be appointed to higher jurisdictions

such as Appeal Court and Supreme Court.

Concerning certain defamatory statements, the Directorate is surprised that the journalists

in question did not respect their obligations of seriousness, discretion and of serenity

when they reported allegations of corruption during the competitive entrance examination

in the highlighted box in the article. The Directorate is willing to invite the disappointed

applicant who had been allegedly asked for the sum of 15.000 USD for the final admission

to reveal his/her anonymity so that an appropriate lawsuit may be taken against those

responsible for the alleged corruption.

Ms. Kim Sathavy - Directorate of the Royal School for Judges and

Prosecutors