On May 8, the Cambodian government officially announced the list of judges for the Extraordinary Chambers tasked with trying former Khmer Rouge leaders. The names of some of the Cambodian judges quickly raised strong objection. "These nominations reflect a clan mentality," said one legal expert, eluding to the nomination of prosecutor Chea Leang, niece of Sok An, Prime Minister Hun Sen's right arm man. One Cambodian lawyer went a step further saying, "Some judges do not have a good reputation. Take the example of General Ney Thol, president of the military court. He was highly criticized by the European Union and the international community after issuing a decision against opponent Cheam Channy." Following the conflict between the Hun Sen and Ranariddh camps in 1997, this judge convicted Ranariddh, president of the Funcinpec political party, in absentia. In response, Judge Thol recently defended himself with a "no one is perfect" response, saying "One human being is never right all the time." Among the criticized judges is also Thong Ol, famous for having indicted the director of Radio Abeille, Mam Sonando, on libel charges, and for having found former Khmer Rouge commander Chhouk Rin not guilty on the grounds that he was covered by an amnesty. In the end, Rin was convicted on appeal. Thong Ol and his fellow judge Ya Sokhan were also sanctioned by the High Judges' Council. Intervening as both a Khmer Rouge victim and lawyer, Lao Mong Hay has challenged the criteria used to recruit judges and questioned their independence vis-à-vis the political parties. A committee of 21 NGOs called upon judges affiliated with a party to resign from it, while the Asian Commission for Human Rights based in Hong Kong denounced the Prime Minister saying, "He is simply nominating judges who will work on his behalf."