Dr. Lao Mong Hay: "... calling me an animal, an ignorant like that. I just ask honest questions, all I want is for the tribunal to be clean." (Response provided to RFA on Hun Sen's comment. Photo RFA)
Prime minister Hun SenPhnom Penh (dpa) - Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen on Thursday likened critics of the selection of judges for a court to try former Khmer Rouge leaders to incestuous animals, incapable of showing respect for the dead.
Speaking at a judiciary training centre in Phnom Penh, Hun Sen lashed out at criticism from opposition analysts and some human-rights organizations that followed King Norodom Sihamoni's confirmation Sunday of a list of Cambodian judicial figures to oversee the proceedings.
"You have to know where you came from, where you are going to, when you will arrive and what your destination is," Hun Sen told law students in a speech broadcast on national radio. "If you don't know this, you are a real animal. Animals have sex with even their own parents and their own children. Some human beings, Khmer or foreigner, are no different to animals."
In a direct plea to the critics, the premier said, "Please refrain from looking down on the Khmer people, your own nation, and the people who come from the dead [of the Khmer Rouge]. Please do not try to take on the role of trying to control the Supreme Council of Magistracy."
The Supreme Council, which is headed by Sihamoni, put forward the names of the Cambodian judges last week, and the king later confirmed their nominations.
Criticism was immediate and vocal with some rights groups and opposition political analysts questioning the qualifications and credentials of some of the candidates and claiming that the entire process of selection, the judicial system and even the office that releases information related to the trial were too closely linked to Hun Sen's Cambodian People's Party to be impartial.
They pointed out that judges to preside over various phases of the trial of former Khmer Rouge leaders include the president of Cambodia's Military Court, Ney Thol, who presided over the trial earlier this year of Sam Rainsy Party parliamentarian Cheam Channy.
The opposition leader was sentenced to seven years in prison for conspiring to organize an armed force. Channy denied the charges, saying he was merely heading up a shadow defence cabinet and claiming the charges were politically motivated. Ney Thol refused to allow any witnesses for Channy to be heard at the trial.
Hun Sen said criticism was premature and unfair. He denied he had exerted any influence over the court and asked people to wait before they condemned the legal process.
"Why don't you wait a little while? I do not suggest any ideas to anyone," he said.
Up to 2 million Cambodians died during the Khmer Rouge's bloody 1975-1979 regime. The long-awaited trials of its surviving leaders by a joint Cambodian government-United Nations court is budgeted to cost around 56 million dollars, and the initial prosecution process is hoped to begin sometime this year.
The court has not yet decided which former leaders it would try, but advocates of the proceedings have warned that the trials must get under way soon or risk the aging and ailing surviving former leaders would never face justice at all, just like their leader Pol Pot, who died at his home in 1998.
Speaking at a judiciary training centre in Phnom Penh, Hun Sen lashed out at criticism from opposition analysts and some human-rights organizations that followed King Norodom Sihamoni's confirmation Sunday of a list of Cambodian judicial figures to oversee the proceedings.
"You have to know where you came from, where you are going to, when you will arrive and what your destination is," Hun Sen told law students in a speech broadcast on national radio. "If you don't know this, you are a real animal. Animals have sex with even their own parents and their own children. Some human beings, Khmer or foreigner, are no different to animals."
In a direct plea to the critics, the premier said, "Please refrain from looking down on the Khmer people, your own nation, and the people who come from the dead [of the Khmer Rouge]. Please do not try to take on the role of trying to control the Supreme Council of Magistracy."
The Supreme Council, which is headed by Sihamoni, put forward the names of the Cambodian judges last week, and the king later confirmed their nominations.
Criticism was immediate and vocal with some rights groups and opposition political analysts questioning the qualifications and credentials of some of the candidates and claiming that the entire process of selection, the judicial system and even the office that releases information related to the trial were too closely linked to Hun Sen's Cambodian People's Party to be impartial.
They pointed out that judges to preside over various phases of the trial of former Khmer Rouge leaders include the president of Cambodia's Military Court, Ney Thol, who presided over the trial earlier this year of Sam Rainsy Party parliamentarian Cheam Channy.
The opposition leader was sentenced to seven years in prison for conspiring to organize an armed force. Channy denied the charges, saying he was merely heading up a shadow defence cabinet and claiming the charges were politically motivated. Ney Thol refused to allow any witnesses for Channy to be heard at the trial.
Hun Sen said criticism was premature and unfair. He denied he had exerted any influence over the court and asked people to wait before they condemned the legal process.
"Why don't you wait a little while? I do not suggest any ideas to anyone," he said.
Up to 2 million Cambodians died during the Khmer Rouge's bloody 1975-1979 regime. The long-awaited trials of its surviving leaders by a joint Cambodian government-United Nations court is budgeted to cost around 56 million dollars, and the initial prosecution process is hoped to begin sometime this year.
The court has not yet decided which former leaders it would try, but advocates of the proceedings have warned that the trials must get under way soon or risk the aging and ailing surviving former leaders would never face justice at all, just like their leader Pol Pot, who died at his home in 1998.
5 comments:
HUN SEN est un hypocrite comme son maitre vietnam. Il prend le monde entier pour les idiots.
HA, HA HA....
How a PM commented a such rude word!!!!!!!!!!!
Well ah kwark hun sen is the world first rude leader the world ever have, he does have character like other leaders at all. All he does it get piss at people and spit at the microphone.
There is no word to desribe this motherF..er in western world, because he could do anything as he LIKE in his jungle? He is the top in HIS jungle, but just a piece of trash outside his jungle. I hope he finish his karma as he wish(4'*8')grave without taking W/ HIM THE HUNDRED MILLION DOLLARS THAT HE STOLE FROM CAMBODIAN PEOPLE. This MotherF..er(de-ri-charn)should get like the leader(commnunist)of ROMANIA,assasinated by his bodyguards. We should try to teach his bodyguards about Romania history in the early 90'.
He, hun sen, is the emperor..he can say what he wanted!! if you don't like it ..let throw him out!!
the king can say what ever he wanted to , thats what all khmer wanted to have the king ..and bowed under the dirt of his feet, right?...if you say about the king you 'll die, if the king say about you, its okay!...very funny!! hehehehhe!!
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