Kong Korm's letter to Chea Xim in regards to the gov't "political lawsuit" against opposition leader Sam Rainsy

Click on the letter in Khmer to zoom in

Translated from Khmer by Soch

Senate Committee No. 7

To: Samdach Chea Xim, President of the Senate

The Chairman of the Senate Committee No. 7 and the standing President of the SRP would like to inform Samdach Senate President on the issue involving MP Sam Rainsy, President of the SRP, and villagers from Koh Kban Kandal village, Samrong commune, Chantrea district, Svay Rieng province – Mrs. Meas Srey and Mr. Prum Chea, the owners of the rice fields where temporary stakes for border post no. 185 were planted on and who were charged with “destruction of public properties and incitation to racial discrimination” through a lawsuit brought up Mr. Chea Yieng, the Chantrea district administration director.

Regarding this case, based on the hand-drawn map and report provided by General Prach Reum, the Svay Rieng police commissioner, dated 26 October 2009, and the agreement confirmation provided by H.E. Cheang Am, the Svay Rieng province governor, dated 27 October 2009 and sent to the court, it was confirmed that these stakes for border post no. 185 were located inside Cambodian territories, on top of the rice fields belonging to Mrs. Meas Srey and Mr. Prum Chea, as per the complaints brought up by the villagers, the legal owners of the rice fields and MP Sam Rainsy. Because the rice field owners were concerned about losing their rice fields and the SRP MPs believe that this temporary border post led to the encroachment of the integrity of Cambodia’s territories, Mr. Sam Rainsy and SRP MPs published maps to properly explain this temporary border post based on its true geographical coordinates. The gathering of proofs, the explanations provided to the public, and the work performed by a group of technical experts were additionally accused by the government representative as “publication of false information and falsification of public documents through the Internet”. Regarding these new accusations, if we were to look at the map shown by the government border committee to the court on 12 March 2010, and the report provided by Prof. Regis Caloz, the physicist [and map expert] at the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne in Switzerland, they both showed that the complaints made by the villagers and the intervention by MP Sam Rainsy on the encroachment of rice fields and the border encroachment by Vietnam were valid.

Based on the explanations above, I and a number of other sources, including the civil society, and in particular Prince Sisowath Thomico on behalf of King Norodom Sihanouk, believe that the case above is only a political issue. Based on the role of the Senate as the facilitator between the National Assembly and the government, and as Chairman of the Senate Committee No. 7, I am asking Samdach – who is deemed warmly respected by various groups and a statesman with common sense on important political and Cambodian affairs – to review and intervene with the government to drop its lawsuits and to intervene with the National Assembly to return the parliamentary immunity to MP Sam Rainsy, SRP President, so that he may serve the voters and participate in the strengthening of democracy, plurality and development of the Kingdom of Cambodia.

Please accept, Samdach President of the Senate, my deepest respect.

Phnom Penh 10 September 2010

(Signed) King Korm
Chairman of Senate Committee No. 7
And Standing President of the SRP