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| Cambodian opposition party leader Sam Rainsy |
Opposition leader Sam Rainsy says he is preparing to file more
complaints against Prime Minister Hun Sen, similar to allegations he has
already made in a New York court.
“I have met my lawyer to prepare lawsuits against Hun Sen for killing
many people on several occasions,” Sam Rainsy told VOA Khmer in an
interview last week, without elaborating. “He was involved in these
crimes, including crimes against humanity.”
Sam Rainsy alleges Hun Sen was responsible for the deaths of people
sent to clear forests along the Thai border in the 1980s, where they met
with malaria and other diseases and land mines.
“I would like to appeal to all people in Cambodia or overseas who
lived through K5, who witnessed the events, or who fell victims
themselves, to come together now,” he said.
There are no official figures on how many people died curing the K5
campaign. Sam Rainsy’s complaints follow victory for him in a French
court in a defamation case brought by Foreign Minister Hor Namhong, who
had alleged Sam Rainsy had unfairly claimed he had led a Khmer Rouge
camp.
Sam Rainsy said his victory in that case “opens the way for me to
file more complaints. This time not against Hor Namhong, but Hun Sen.”
Sam Rainsy said he plans to file his first complaint in a court in Geneva later this month.
The opposition leader remains in self-imposed exile and faces a raft
of criminal prison sentences related to demonstrations on the Vietnamese
border in 2009. With elections approaching in 2012 and 2013, Hun Sen
has said there will be no political settlement of those cases.
Sam Rainsy said “modern technology” allows him to maintain daily
contact with his supporters. But he added that his party was working to
pressure the current government to secure his return ahead of elections.
Observers have noted that without the presence of the main opposition
leader, the upcoming elections may not be perceived as free or fair.
Prime Minister Hun Sen has warned the leader of the Sam Rainsy Party
that documents relating to secret talks held between the premier and its
leader after 2003 are in existence.
The disclosure, made at a graduation ceremony at the Royal School of Administration in Phnom Penh yesterday, follows a leak of a recording late last month of a 2007 discussion involving Human Rights Party. On the recording, its president Ken Sokha can be heard asking Hun Sen for assistance in securing use of the Olympic Stadium for a party conference.
The SRP, the Kingdom’s largest opposition party, seized on the recording as evidence of alleged collusion between the two parties and said that flagging negotiations on an SRP-HRP merger would be halted as a result.
Yesterday, Hun Sen insinuated that evidence of a three-hour talk conducted after 2003 with Sam Rainsy was also in existence.
The disclosure, made at a graduation ceremony at the Royal School of Administration in Phnom Penh yesterday, follows a leak of a recording late last month of a 2007 discussion involving Human Rights Party. On the recording, its president Ken Sokha can be heard asking Hun Sen for assistance in securing use of the Olympic Stadium for a party conference.
The SRP, the Kingdom’s largest opposition party, seized on the recording as evidence of alleged collusion between the two parties and said that flagging negotiations on an SRP-HRP merger would be halted as a result.
Yesterday, Hun Sen insinuated that evidence of a three-hour talk conducted after 2003 with Sam Rainsy was also in existence.
Sam Rainsy - don’t forget what you have talked with me [about]
Hun Sen said Sam Rainsy met him at his Takhmao home, in Kandal province, to talk over a potential amendment to the constitution.
The amendment to reduce the required parliamentary majority needed to govern outright from two thirds to 50 percent plus one was passed in 2006 – effectively reducing the CPP’s need for a coalition partner.
“With Sam Rainsy [there are] plenty [of documents]. If they were leaked, there would be a bunch,” Hun Sen said yesterday, adding he had held many “secret conversations” with Sam Rainsy and Kem Sokha in the past.
“Sam Rainsy – don’t forget what you have talked with me [about],” he said.
SRP spokesman Yim Sovann yesterday dismissed any talk of “secret deals” between the SRP and the CPP stating that he was “not interested” in the Prime Minister’s statement.
He claimed that the premier was attempting to create an atmosphere of suspicion around the SRP, but party supporters would see through it.
Ou Virak, president of the Cambodian Centre for Human Rights, said the comments seemed to be a political ‘‘game’’ that would “not make [for] strong development of the nation”.
The amendment to reduce the required parliamentary majority needed to govern outright from two thirds to 50 percent plus one was passed in 2006 – effectively reducing the CPP’s need for a coalition partner.
“With Sam Rainsy [there are] plenty [of documents]. If they were leaked, there would be a bunch,” Hun Sen said yesterday, adding he had held many “secret conversations” with Sam Rainsy and Kem Sokha in the past.
“Sam Rainsy – don’t forget what you have talked with me [about],” he said.
SRP spokesman Yim Sovann yesterday dismissed any talk of “secret deals” between the SRP and the CPP stating that he was “not interested” in the Prime Minister’s statement.
He claimed that the premier was attempting to create an atmosphere of suspicion around the SRP, but party supporters would see through it.
Ou Virak, president of the Cambodian Centre for Human Rights, said the comments seemed to be a political ‘‘game’’ that would “not make [for] strong development of the nation”.
One man was arrested yesterday following the beating death of a Sam
Rainsy Party commune official in Kandal province, amid competing claims
from police and the opposition party over whether the killing was
politically motivated.
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| The son of murdered SRP commune official Ouk Chhanteak places lighted incense sticks next to his father’s body yesterday in Kandal province. Photo by: Pha Lina |
The 64-year-old Ouk Chhanteak, second
commune councillor in Kien Svay district’s Chhoeu Teal commune, was
bludgeoned to death at around 10pm on Wednesday evening as he returned
home from patrolling the area, SRP officials said. His body was
reportedly dumped roughly one kilometre from the site where he was
attacked, with his motorbike, camera and telephone having been stolen.
Kien Svay district police chief Pa Sam Eth said yesterday that one of three suspects in the case had been arrested yesterday afternoon, adding that police believe the incident was a robbery that was unrelated to politics.
“The suspect we arrested already admitted in front of us that he and another two men really robbed the victim for his motorbike,” Pa Sam Eth said. “Now we know the identities of the other two and we are investigating to arrest them.”
The SRP alleged, however, that the murder was connected to Ouk Chhanteak’s work on behalf of the opposition. “The murder was related to [a] political case because Mr Ouk Chhantak was the most popular SRP second commune councillor in his commune and would become a commune chief in [the] upcoming commune election [in] 2012,” the SRP cabinet said in a statement yesterday.
“The Sam Rainsy Party would like to appeal to the authorities at all levels to take action to arrest the murderers.”
Chan Cheng, an SRP lawmaker representing Kandal, said Ouk Chhanteak had always “worked to serve the people without taking money”.
“Three days before his murder, he said the SRP was not worried about the upcoming election because he will be elected commune chief,” Chan Cheng said. “He is very popular in Chhoeu Teal commune.”
Chan Cheng added that Ouk Chhanteak’s killers had not removed a pair of rings from his fingers, expressing doubt that the case was a simply a violent theft. But Pa Sam Eth said the missing motorbike was clear evidence of a robbery, dismissing Chan Cheng’s allegations.
“It is his right to say that, but based on our assessment, we see that this case is a robbery,” Pa Sam Eth said. “We are not indifferent and we are going to find the murderers.”
Men Makara, an investigator based in Kandal for the local rights group Adhoc, said an investigation is required before a determination is made on whether or not the killing was politically motivated.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY SAM RITH
Kien Svay district police chief Pa Sam Eth said yesterday that one of three suspects in the case had been arrested yesterday afternoon, adding that police believe the incident was a robbery that was unrelated to politics.
“The suspect we arrested already admitted in front of us that he and another two men really robbed the victim for his motorbike,” Pa Sam Eth said. “Now we know the identities of the other two and we are investigating to arrest them.”
The SRP alleged, however, that the murder was connected to Ouk Chhanteak’s work on behalf of the opposition. “The murder was related to [a] political case because Mr Ouk Chhantak was the most popular SRP second commune councillor in his commune and would become a commune chief in [the] upcoming commune election [in] 2012,” the SRP cabinet said in a statement yesterday.
“The Sam Rainsy Party would like to appeal to the authorities at all levels to take action to arrest the murderers.”
Chan Cheng, an SRP lawmaker representing Kandal, said Ouk Chhanteak had always “worked to serve the people without taking money”.
“Three days before his murder, he said the SRP was not worried about the upcoming election because he will be elected commune chief,” Chan Cheng said. “He is very popular in Chhoeu Teal commune.”
Chan Cheng added that Ouk Chhanteak’s killers had not removed a pair of rings from his fingers, expressing doubt that the case was a simply a violent theft. But Pa Sam Eth said the missing motorbike was clear evidence of a robbery, dismissing Chan Cheng’s allegations.
“It is his right to say that, but based on our assessment, we see that this case is a robbery,” Pa Sam Eth said. “We are not indifferent and we are going to find the murderers.”
Men Makara, an investigator based in Kandal for the local rights group Adhoc, said an investigation is required before a determination is made on whether or not the killing was politically motivated.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY SAM RITH
Phnom Penh Post
LOWELL -- A Cambodian opposition leader and two other members of parliament will be in Lowell Saturday to discuss ongoing human-rights abuses in Cambodia.
Sam Rainsy, leader of the Sam Rainsy Party and generally considered the main rival to Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, will appear with fellow SRP legislators Tok Vanchan and Tioulong Sumura, Rainsy's wife, on Saturday, from 5 p.m. to midnight at the Sunny Da Restaurant, 450 Chelmsford St.
Rainsy, formerly a member of the Cambodian National Assembly, has most recently been living in self-imposed exile in Australia. In March, the Cambodian Supreme Court upheld Rainsy's conviction on charges of inciting racial discrimination and uprooting border markings with neighboring Vietnam.
Shortly after the court's ruling, the National Assembly released a statement revoking Rainsy's "rights, privileges and membership as member of parliament."
The conviction upheld by the Supreme Court carries with it a two-year prison sentence and, when combined with an unrelated 10-year sentence for publishing a false map of the border with Vietnam.
Since 2009, Rainsy has maintained he was leading demonstrations on the Cambodian-Vietnamese border to protest what he believes is Vietnamese encroachment on Cambodian land.
A Rainsy Party spokesman criticized the National Assembly decree as a political move by a parliament dominated by MPs from Hun Sen's ruling Cambodian People's Party. In the past, the Rainsy
Party and the NGO Cambodian Center for Human Rights have asserted that Rainsy's convictions were an attempt to keep him from participating in Cambodia's 2013 national election.
Hun Sen, 59, has held power in Cambodia for a quarter-century and, according to some, has vowed to remain in power until he is 90 years old.
Rainsy plans to discuss those issues, as well as what he calls ongoing human-rights abuses in Cambodia, suppression of the Cambodian media and the future of the country.
For more information, email Chhan Touch atchhantouch@comcast.net.
Lowell Sun
