Sivarak can feel hard done by for being jailed for seven years

11/12/2009
Anucha Charoenpo
Bangkok Post

A Cambodian court's decision to jail a Thai engineer for seven years on spying charges is too harsh.

Two witnesses testified before the court on Tuesday that Sivarak Chutipong, a 31-year-old employee of Cambodian Air Traffic Services (CATS), asked them about flight information regarding a private plane.

At the Thai embassy's request, he passed on the details about the plane's movements, which prompted the spying charge.

Sivarak claimed the information was not official and he did not know when asked for the details that the plane belonged to former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

The court lacked solid evidence to substantiate the charges that Sivarak and first secretary at the Thai embassy in Phnom Penh, Kamrob Palawatwichai, conspired to obtain the information.

If the Cambodian government considered Thaksin's flight schedule secret, why did details of his movements leak to the media on such a regular basis?

And why did it allow Thai-owned contractor CATS access to the information given the fact it must be handled by Cambodia's security and intelligence agencies?

This was Sivarak's first scrape with the law in eight years of living and working in Cambodia. Are these factors not enough for the court to afford him leniency?

Instead, Sivarak was sentenced to seven years in jail and fined 10 million riel (100,000 baht).

He is a political victim of the souring of relations between Thailand and Cambodia which took place when Cambodia appointed Thaksin its economic adviser.

Sivarak was arrested by Cambodian authorities on Nov 12, two days after Thaksin arrived in Phnom Penh by private jet.

Some observers believe Sivarak will receive a royal pardon by Cambodian King Sihamoni.

They believe Sivarak's arrest was planned by Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen and his ally Thaksin to discredit the Democrat-led government in Bangkok.

Hun Sen will submit the request for a royal pardon to the Cambodian king. The Thai government is also seeking a pardon for Sivarak.

Sivarak's mother, Simarak na Nakhon Phanom, has also asked Thaksin and Puea Thai Party chairman Chavalit Yongchaiyudh to help broker negotiations with Hun Sen.

Mrs Simarak's actions are those of a concerned mother, not as part of a plot between Thaksin and Hun Sen.

She is worried that seeking help from the Thai government might actually set back her cause, as the two governments are still at odds over the Thaksin affair.