Sam Rainsy Addressed the Cambodian People Through Live Call-in Show
Jan 1, 2010
01 January 2010
SAM RAINSY ADDRESSED THE CAMBODIAN PEOPLE
THROUGH LIVE CALL-IN SHOW
THROUGH LIVE CALL-IN SHOW
On 31 December 2009, SRP President Sam Rainsy, who is currently in France, took part in a radio call-in show broadcast live in Cambodia from 06:00 pm to 07:00 pm Phnom Penh time.
The call-in show was part of the one-hour-daily Candle Light radio program run by the opposition SRP which buys air time from a private radio station broadcasting from Phnom Penh on FM 93.5 MHz.
During the program and responding to many questions, Sam Rainsy elaborated on the political situation in Cambodia, the current tension with Thailand, the border issue with Vietnam, the worsening government-sponsored land grab affecting an increasing number of Cambodian farmers and, following the issuance of an arrest warrant against him, his decision to return to Cambodia as soon as the government frees detained protesting farmers from prison and gives them back their land.
To listen to the radio call-in show in Khmer please click at http://tinyurl.com/ygzkmnm
Opposition leader repudiates ‘political’ charges against him
Photo by: Heng Chivoan
THE Svay Rieng provincial court has issued an arrest warrant for Sam Rainsy in connection with an October incident in which he led local residents in a protest against alleged Vietnamese encroachment on Cambodian territory.
Lawyer Choung Chou Ngy said he received the warrant Thursday afternoon, and that it had been issued after his client failed to appear in court on Monday for questioning – a move Sam Rainsy scorned, saying that there was no point in explaining himself to politically biased judges.
“The arrest warrant was issued one day after he did not appear in court. This is a procedure to force Sam Rainsy to appear,” Council of Ministers spokesman Phay Siphan said, adding the Sam Rainsy Party president can now be arrested at any point of entry into Cambodia.
Investigating judge Long Kesphyrom, who issued the warrant, could not be reached for comment on Thursday.
Sam Rainsy was charged with racial incitement and destruction of property in early December after removing border markers from the Vietnamese frontier in Svay Rieng’s Chantrea district on October 25. His parliamentary immunity was revoked in November, paving the way for the charges.
Speaking by phone from Paris, Sam Rainsy said he was unconcerned about his failure to appear at the provincial court hearing, arguing that a verdict against him was a foregone conclusion.
“Whether I go [to the court] or don’t go, it is the same. … It’s useless because the decision has been made beforehand,” he said.
Sam Rainsy accused the Cambodian People’s Party of pressuring the provincial court, saying that he would continue his work as a parliamentarian despite the “politically motivated” charges against him.
“I will find a political way for justice…. I can resolve my own problems, but justice [must be had] for the farmers who lost their rice fields,” he said.
Sam Rainsy is in Europe, having met with the European Parliament in Belgium and the Inter-Parliamentary Union in Switzerland last month.
New Year Greeting from SRP Pennsylvania
Click on the poster in Khmer to zoom in
Cambodia issues Sam Rainsy arrest warrant
Sam Rainsy is currently thought to be in FranceFriday, 1 January 2010
BBC News
The Cambodian government has issued an arrest warrant against opposition leader Sam Rainsy for failing to appear in court over a border dispute.
Mr Rainsy is alleged to have encouraged villagers to uproot markers on the frontier with Vietnam in October 2009.
Mr Rainsy has claimed that Vietnam is encroaching on Cambodian territory, a highly sensitive issue.
The Cambodia's parliament stripped opposition leader Sam Rainsy of his immunity from prosecution in November.
"The arrest warrant for Sam Rainsy was issued on Tuesday by Svay Rieng provincial court," Sam Rainsy's lawyer Choung Chou Ngy told AFP.
No show
In an email from France, Mr Rainsy told Reuters he would not appear in court because the case against him was politically motivated.
"The court in Cambodia is just a political tool for the ruling party to crack down on the opposition," he said.
"I will let this politically subservient court prosecute me in absentia because its verdict is known in advance."
Mr Rainsy's lawyer said the opposition leader had been charged with inciting racial discrimination and intentionally damaging property when he allegedly uprooted the border markings saying they were illegally placed by Vietnam.
A Sam Rainsy Party spokesman Yim Sovann called the move was "a plan organised by the ruling party to intimidate and to threaten members of opposition party".
"Sam Rainsy has done nothing wrong. He just fulfilled his duty as a member of parliament," he said.
Government spokesman Phay Siphan said the court was acting independently of politics and that anyone summoned to court should appear.
Vietnam is a growing investor in Cambodia.
The two countries signed a memorandum of understanding at a forum in Ho Chi Minh City on 26 December to support billions of dollars of Vietnamese investments.
Cambodia and Vietnam officially began demarcating their contentious border in September 2006, in a bid to end decades of territorial disputes.
The 1,270-kilometre (790-mile) border has remained essentially unmarked and vague since French colonial times, with stone markers and boundary flags having disappeared, while trees once lining it were cut down.
Mr Rainsy is alleged to have encouraged villagers to uproot markers on the frontier with Vietnam in October 2009.
Mr Rainsy has claimed that Vietnam is encroaching on Cambodian territory, a highly sensitive issue.
The Cambodia's parliament stripped opposition leader Sam Rainsy of his immunity from prosecution in November.
"The arrest warrant for Sam Rainsy was issued on Tuesday by Svay Rieng provincial court," Sam Rainsy's lawyer Choung Chou Ngy told AFP.
No show
In an email from France, Mr Rainsy told Reuters he would not appear in court because the case against him was politically motivated.
"The court in Cambodia is just a political tool for the ruling party to crack down on the opposition," he said.
"I will let this politically subservient court prosecute me in absentia because its verdict is known in advance."
Mr Rainsy's lawyer said the opposition leader had been charged with inciting racial discrimination and intentionally damaging property when he allegedly uprooted the border markings saying they were illegally placed by Vietnam.
A Sam Rainsy Party spokesman Yim Sovann called the move was "a plan organised by the ruling party to intimidate and to threaten members of opposition party".
"Sam Rainsy has done nothing wrong. He just fulfilled his duty as a member of parliament," he said.
Government spokesman Phay Siphan said the court was acting independently of politics and that anyone summoned to court should appear.
Vietnam is a growing investor in Cambodia.
The two countries signed a memorandum of understanding at a forum in Ho Chi Minh City on 26 December to support billions of dollars of Vietnamese investments.
Cambodia and Vietnam officially began demarcating their contentious border in September 2006, in a bid to end decades of territorial disputes.
The 1,270-kilometre (790-mile) border has remained essentially unmarked and vague since French colonial times, with stone markers and boundary flags having disappeared, while trees once lining it were cut down.
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