27/09/2011
King-Oua Laohong & Manop Thip-Osod
Bangkok Post
Veera Somkwamkid and Ratree Pipatanapaiboon, two Thais in jail in Cambodia for spying, cannot be released early under prisoner exchange or prisoner transfer programmes, Justice Minister Pracha Promnok says.
Thailand and Cambodia do not have a prisoner exchange pact, only a transfer programme which allows each country to transfer inmates to serve their remaining jail terms in their homeland, Pol Gen Pracha said.
Under a prisoner transfer, he said, inmates can be sent home to serve out their terms if their transgressions do not concern national security. But they must serve one-third of the sentence first.
Veera and Ratree's cases do not match with these conditions, he said.
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen raised the exchange idea during informal talks with Defence Minister Yutthasak Sasiprapa in Phnom Penh last week.
Veera, co-leader of the anti-Thaksin People's Alliance for Democracy, and Ratree, his secretary, were sentenced to eight and six years respectively in jail after being convicted of espionage by the Phnom Penh Municipal Court after being arrested for trespassing on Cambodian territory on Dec 29 last year.
So far, Bangkok has not asked Phnom Penh to send any Thais to serve their jail terms in Thailand, but Phnom Penh has requested that four inmates, all of whom face drug trafficking charges, be sent back to Cambodia. Only two, who have already been convicted, were qualified.
There are now 39 Thai inmates in Cambodian prisons while there are 2,200 Cambodian prisoners in Thai jails. Of these. just 590 are considered as fulfilling the transfer agreement criteria.
Pol Gen Pracha said the only way to bypass the regulations to release the two Thai nationals was by seeking a royal pardon from Cambodia's king.
Phnom Penh has said a royal pardon could be granted only for inmates who have served two-thirds of their terms.
But Pheu Thai list-MP Jatuporn Prompan said yesterday Veera and Ratree are likely to be granted royal pardons soon.
3 comments:
KI TOLD YOU SO. HUN HAS TO RELEASE TO PLEASE YELLOW SHIRT BECAUSE IF HUN SEN NOT RELEASE THAI PRIME MISISTER WILL BE IN TROUBLE SOON
Why 2 Thai's spies are more important than hundred thousand of Yiekcong's Spies?
Cambodia has been eaten and chewing by Yiekcongs since 1979 and ready for them to swallow and poop.
Concentrating and focusing on the vital problem are better than spending energy on something negligible. This is the strategy of Ah Kwack’s master, trying to shift people’s attention from the real problem: the integration of Cambodia as part of Indochina, which is controlled by Yieknam.
3:29AM! because Yiekcong's spies are ministers like Hor Nam Hong, Ket Chorn, Tea Banch, Chom Prasit and so on and on!
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