BANGKOK, Feb 1 (MCOT online news) – Thai activist Veera Somkwamkid, detained in a Cambodian prison for illegal entry to the neighbour’s territory and spying charges, on Tuesday denied all charges, asserting he was arrested on the Thai soil.
Veera Somkwamkid, coordinator of the Thai Patriots Network, was taken from Prey Sar Prison Tuesday morning to stand trial as he was the only one still detained there, while his secretary, Ratree Pipattanapaiboon, who was earlier granted bail, arrived at court by Thai embassy van.
Mr Veera stood firm on every question asked by the Cambodian court judge that he was detained by Cambodian soldiers while he was on Thai territory, while Ms Ratree conceded that a recorded video that Cambodian authorities seized and used as evidence for spying charge belonged to her, but the video recording was not for spying on Cambodian troop information as charged.
The Cambodian court also allowed two witnesses for the defense, members of the Thailand Patriots Network, to testify.
The court began questioning the plaintiff witnesses in the afternoon.
The two were among the seven Thais, including Democrat member of parliament for Bangkok Panich Vikitsreth, who were arrested Dec 29 by the Cambodian authorities for illegal entry in Banteay Meanchey province.
The five have already returned to Thailand after receiving nine-month suspended jail terms from the Cambodian court for illegal entry and intentional trespass into Cambodian territory.
For Mr Veera and Ms Ratree, the Cambodian government prosecutor earlier added espionage against the duo, citing they gathered security information that could pose a severe threat to Cambodian security.
Thai foreign ministry spokesman Thani Thongpakdi said Tuesday that it is still unknown whether the court will deliver its verdict today or not, but the ministry stands ready to support the two Thais after the verdict is given.
Meanwhile, the leader of the ‘Yellow Shirt’ People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) Gen Chamlong Srimuang said as he and PAD supporters have encamped at Government House since last Tuesday that the movement will intensify its campaign against the Abhisit Vejjajiva administration no matter what the ruling of the Cambodian court is.
Gen Chamlong added the group will not accept the court's ruling and demand that Prime Minister Abhisit take responsibility over the matter.
The prime minister earlier rejected the PAD three demands including the withdrawal from the UNESCO's World Heritage Committee, the revocation of the 2000 MoU signed with Cambodia and the pushing of Cambodians now living in border areas, which they claim belong to Thailand, back to their homeland.
In a related development, Thai army chief Gen Prayuth Chan-ocha on Tuesday reaffirmed Thailand has not lost its territory to the neighbouring kingdom, while urging all parties to solve Thai-Cambodian border dispute through negotiations not the use of force.
Gen Prayuth said Thai troops and ammunition have been standby along the Thai-Cambodian borders to protect the Thai sovereignty but stated clearly that the use of force was the last resort.
"We did not lose any land to the neighbour. Our troops are on alert along the border while the Cambodian forces are also ready," stated the Thai army chief.
7 comments:
this asshole pad thug, of course, wanted to steal from cambodia like the rest of their pad thugs exremist group! what else is new, keep these two criminals in prison for the length of the verdict! they don't qualify for bail, etc! show them the international treaty of 1907 map to educate them to respect the international law, etc, really! tell them, cambodia can never honor the siem's unilateral map, period, end of story! bye bye! case closed, etc! go back to nanchoa province of china and don't come back to steal from cambodia again, ok! and give back all of our old khmer provinces your ancestors stole from cambodia, ok! we demand the return of all of them, ok!
now these two pad thugs can stand firm in prison! that's right!
they will have a rude awakening for being rude in the court, etc!
Just kick this naughty motherfucker’s ass real hard like the Thai do to the Cambodian prisoners in Thailand.
Or just let him loose I want to kick and beat him so bad.
Let the bastard rot at Prey sar.
Veera,you were in Khmer land,not in your land.You knew what you are;and you
knew where you were
in at that time.
You said,"you are in
Khmer land"in Thai
language,"din den mann" on phone which
meant : din= means land,den= means border,mann means it=means Khmer.He called "it" means
Khmer;'it'=adjective possessive.
Thai,don't fight better than fight.
You do not fight with Khmer,but with
Vietnam.
United Nation where Dr. Hun Sen must call for help. Thai can't stand again United Nation at all. Dr. Hun Sen must goes and beg United Nation for help.
I don't believe that, the war is going to happen. It is just a show to both side countries to gain votes for the next election only.
They just make afew armys die to help them regain popularity for the next coming election. Tha's all.
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