The Cambodian Government Must Earn The Respect of The International Community

February 21, 2011

THE CAMBODIAN GOVERNMENT MUST EARN THE RESPECT

OF THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY

On February 23, 2011, the Supreme Court in Phnom Penh will decide on my case related to a border incident in 2010.

I would like to remind the Cambodian government of the opinion on this political case expressed by two important bodies representing the international community.

EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT

In its "Resolution on Cambodia, in particular the case of Sam Rainsy" unanimously adopted in Strasbourg on October 21, 2010, the European Parliament condemns “all politically motivated sentences against representatives of the opposition and NGOs.” It says, "the strategy of Cambodia's ruling party is to use a politically subservient judiciary to crackdown on all government critics,” and it considers my gesture in Svay Rieng province “to be of a symbolic and clearly political nature” and my conviction as “based on an act of civil disobedience.” The European Parliament also notes, “the uprooting of six wooden temporary border posts at the Vietnamese-Cambodian border, which is still disputed between the two countries [...] took place in support of villagers who claimed to be victims of land-grabbing, saying that the Vietnamese had illegally shifted the posts onto Cambodian soil, in their rice fields, and that their complaints to the local authorities had remained unanswered.” [Read the whole text of the European Parliament Resolution at http://tinyurl.com/34cq5pe].

INTER-PARLIAMENTARY UNION

On January 17, 2011, the Inter-Parliamentary Union in Geneva adopted the following Decision:

« - Recalling that Mr. Sam Rainsy, in judgments handed down in January and September 2010, was sentenced to a total of 12 years' imprisonment and a heavy fine for (a) having pulled out border post #185 marking the Cambodian/Vietnamese border in a village in Svay Rieng province (...), and (b) divulging false information [regarding a geographical map],

- Noting that no one disputes the fact that the process of demarcating the border between Vietnam and Cambodia is under way, that border marker #185 was a temporary wooden post and that the government recognized it was not a real and legal border marker and officially decided to dismantle it, and that there is at present no map recognized by Vietnam and Cambodia as being official and binding,

- Considering in this respect that Prime Minister Hun Sen stated the following in response to a letter by which the Speaker of the National Assembly had forwarded to him questions raised by members of parliament belonging to the Sam Rainsy Party regarding the border demarcation process: "In the area surrounding the tentative post #185, in particular posts #184 to 187 along the border between Cambodia and Vietnam, the joint technical group from the two countries is continuing its study on the actual ground in order to search for material evidence necessary for the determination of the real location of those border posts. Because the joint technical group from the two countries has not planted border post #185 yet, the border demarcation work, which is the work of the joint technical group after the planting of that post, has not started yet either." [Read Hun Sen's November 8, 2010 letter at http://tinyurl.com/25ulw7c]

[The Inter-Parliamentary Union]

1- Reaffirms that Mr. Sam Rainsy's gesture of pulling out temporary border markers was clearly a political gesture, and that, consequently, the courts should never have been resorted to for resolving a political question;

2- Notes that, given the official recognition that there was no such thing as a legal border post #185, Mr. Sam Rainsy cannot possibly have committed a crime by pulling out wooden posts, which were illegally planted;

3- Considers, therefore, that it has become urgent to review Mr. Sam Rainsy's case and to rehabilitate him and calls on the authorities, including Parliament, to take action to this end without delay so as to enable Mr. Sam Rainsy to resume his rightful place as a member of the National Assembly. » [Read the whole text of the IPU Decision at http://tinyurl.com/6yrt4t4].

The Cambodian government must show a minimum of consistency and openness in order to earn the respect of the international community at a time when Cambodia badly needs the support of this very international community in the defense of its territorial integrity against a foreign aggression.

Sam Rainsy

Member of Parliament