Khieu Kanharith reacts to KKKC President07 August 2007
By San Suwith Radio Free Asia
Translated from Khmer by Socheata
On Monday, Thach Setha, the executive Director of the Khmer Kampuchea Krom Community, called on the Cambodian prime minister to intervene in order to obtain authorization for the family Monk Tim Sakhorn – the former abbot of the Phnom Den North pagoda – and Human Rights NGO representatives to meet Monk Tim Sakhorn in jail in Vietnam.
Thach Setha said: “I am asking Samdech Prime Minister to intervene with the government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, to request that the family of Venerable Tim Sakhorn and various human rights organizations can meet Venerable Tim Sakhorn in jail in Vietnam in order to observe his health condition, because when someone is jailed in Vietnam, the situation is not normal, they can suffer tortures also.”
Thach Setha also called on Hun Sen to use all diplomatic means to bring back to Cambodia, former Abbot Tim Sakhorn, and to investigate and find the culprits who deported the monk and handed him over to the Vietnamese authority so that he can be jailed there.
On Monday, Khieu Kanharith, spokesman of the government said that he personally asked the Cambodian consulate in Prey Nokor (Ho Chi Minh City) to investigate the case of former Khmer Krom Abbot Tim Sakhorn.
Monk Tim Sakhorn was defrocked by force on 30 June and he was accused of undermining the relationship between Cambodia and Vietnam. Since his defrocking, he disappeared.
On Thursday 02 August, the Vietnamese embassy in Cambodia declared that former Abbot Tim Sakhorn was jailed in Vietnam and that he will be sentenced for political crime because he helped the Khmer Kampuchea-Krom Federation (KKF) based in the USA.
Khieu Kanharith said that he is still waiting for the results of the investigation by the Cambodian consulate.
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In response to questions asked by RFA regarding the call made by Thach Setha, Khieu Kanharith said that it should be waited to see the reason and the cause of the case of Monk Tim Sakhorn first.
He answered that the request for the prime minister to intervene is not the right thing to do: “The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is also following the case, but secondly, former Monk Tim Sakhorn holds a Vietnamese ID, he used the Vietnamese ID, he didn’t use the Cambodian ID, but for the Cambodian government, we never consider Khmer Krom people as another nationality. But, we are reviewing to see what the charge is, because it’s like when the Vietnamese come to Cambodia, if they commit something against the law, the Cambodian law is applicable. Over there (in Vietnam) also, it’s the same thing, but we are looking to see what he is charged with, then we can see what else to do. However, to ask the prime minister to intervene with their court, it is not right.”
Trinh Ba Cam, the spokesman of the Vietnamese embassy in Cambodia, confirmed that Monk Tim Sakhorn was arrested by the Vietnamese authority because he tried to cross the border into Vietnam secretly and illegally.
Trinh Ba Cam added that there is no reason to send the former abbot back to Cambodia because he is a Vietnamese citizen who committed anti-Vietnamese crime in both Cambodia and Vietnam.
Thach Setha said: “I am asking Samdech Prime Minister to intervene with the government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, to request that the family of Venerable Tim Sakhorn and various human rights organizations can meet Venerable Tim Sakhorn in jail in Vietnam in order to observe his health condition, because when someone is jailed in Vietnam, the situation is not normal, they can suffer tortures also.”
Thach Setha also called on Hun Sen to use all diplomatic means to bring back to Cambodia, former Abbot Tim Sakhorn, and to investigate and find the culprits who deported the monk and handed him over to the Vietnamese authority so that he can be jailed there.
On Monday, Khieu Kanharith, spokesman of the government said that he personally asked the Cambodian consulate in Prey Nokor (Ho Chi Minh City) to investigate the case of former Khmer Krom Abbot Tim Sakhorn.
Monk Tim Sakhorn was defrocked by force on 30 June and he was accused of undermining the relationship between Cambodia and Vietnam. Since his defrocking, he disappeared.
On Thursday 02 August, the Vietnamese embassy in Cambodia declared that former Abbot Tim Sakhorn was jailed in Vietnam and that he will be sentenced for political crime because he helped the Khmer Kampuchea-Krom Federation (KKF) based in the USA.
Khieu Kanharith said that he is still waiting for the results of the investigation by the Cambodian consulate.
‘
In response to questions asked by RFA regarding the call made by Thach Setha, Khieu Kanharith said that it should be waited to see the reason and the cause of the case of Monk Tim Sakhorn first.
He answered that the request for the prime minister to intervene is not the right thing to do: “The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is also following the case, but secondly, former Monk Tim Sakhorn holds a Vietnamese ID, he used the Vietnamese ID, he didn’t use the Cambodian ID, but for the Cambodian government, we never consider Khmer Krom people as another nationality. But, we are reviewing to see what the charge is, because it’s like when the Vietnamese come to Cambodia, if they commit something against the law, the Cambodian law is applicable. Over there (in Vietnam) also, it’s the same thing, but we are looking to see what he is charged with, then we can see what else to do. However, to ask the prime minister to intervene with their court, it is not right.”
Trinh Ba Cam, the spokesman of the Vietnamese embassy in Cambodia, confirmed that Monk Tim Sakhorn was arrested by the Vietnamese authority because he tried to cross the border into Vietnam secretly and illegally.
Trinh Ba Cam added that there is no reason to send the former abbot back to Cambodia because he is a Vietnamese citizen who committed anti-Vietnamese crime in both Cambodia and Vietnam.
1 comment:
Saom Khmer tang ohs kom cheu Ah chkai
Khieu Kanhchharith nuh, vea kor chea
Ah chkai yuon Vietcong dai. vea thveu
karr ohy Ah chkai yuon Hanoi teh. Puuk Khmer yeung noamh knea komchat
Ah chkai Hun Sen, Ah chkai Chea Sim,
Ah chkai Heng Samrin, Ah chkai Hok
longdy, Ah chkai Ty Sokun, ah chkai
Chan Sarun neung Ah chkai Khieu sophak chegn pee srok yeung tov teup
Khmer yeung bann sokr.
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