VOA News
A Cambodian court has charged seven Thai nationalists, including a ruling party lawmaker, with illegally entering Cambodia while they inspected a disputed border area.
Cambodian authorities detained the group Wednesday on the border of northwestern Cambodia and southeastern Thailand and brought them to Phnom Penh. A court in the capital, Phnom Penh, charged them Thursday with illegal entry and encroaching on a Cambodian military zone. If convicted on both counts, they face up to 18 months in prison.
Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva called for the immediate release of the seven Thais, who include a lawmaker of his Democrat Party, Panich Vikitsreth. Thai Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya traveled to Phnom Penh Thursday and met with his Cambodian counterpart Hor Namhong to try to secure their freedom.
But Hor Namhong later said the Thai nationalists will remain in custody until Cambodia's legal procedures run their course.
Mr. Abhisit said Thursday that if Cambodia wants friendly relations with Thailand, it must resolve bilateral disputes through negotiations. Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said Wednesday that he does not expect the arrests to affect that relationship.
Panich traveled to the border region with six members of the pro-military and pro-monarchy Yellow Shirt movement, saying they were investigating complaints from Thai farmers about intrusions by Cambodian soldiers. He insisted that he and his companions were on Thai territory when they were detained.
But Thai Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban said Thursday it appears the group had gone just inside Cambodian territory.
Much of the Thai-Cambodian border is poorly defined, in part, because it is littered with landmines left over from decades of war in Cambodia.
Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.
4 comments:
if they(THAI)'r tresspassing in khmer land, why our soldiers shot and killed like siam armies did to khmer unarmed pple. that settled the diplomatic issues.
Good idea! We should do as what they did on Khmer people and we should do also the same to the VN people.
So far the both side never respect us, they thought that we're just a poor country.
just because our country is now between siem and youn country, they think they can control us again like during the dark ages, etc! they forgot so soon that khmer was a powerful race that gave birth to siem, laos and mekong delta region, etc... just because they stole from us once before, they think they can just do it again! this time, khmer will fight back hard and broke all their teeth so they can't bite anymore than they can chew, really! more power to cambodia!
Fabulous opinion 8:31AM.
Last month Vietnam soldiers intruded Khmer land,Khmer policemen and soldiers did nothing.
If someone did not
blind an eye and
an ear,s/he can see
and hear well.
A century ago,did
Thai take any pieces
of Khmer land? No.
How about Vietnam?
Yes,62 years ago,
Vietnam took Khmer
Krom.
How many Vietnam live illegally in Cambodia?6 million.
How many Vietnam soldiers are hiding
in seven rubber fields in seven provinces in Cambodia?10,000 men,not including wives and children.
Will Khmer become
Vietnam soon?
My dear friends blogger could give me the answer.
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