Cambodia’s king pardons opposition leader Sam Rainsy

Cambodia’s king pardons opposition leader Sam Rainsy

By Puy Kea | Kyodo News | 12 July 2o13

PHNOM PENH, July 12 Kyodo - Cambodia’s King Norodom Sihamoni pardoned opposition leader Sam Rainsy on Friday, paving the way for him, in self-exile even before being sentenced in absentia to 10 years in prison by Cambodian courts in September 2010, to enter the campaign for Cambodia’s July 28 national elections.

Sam Rainsy, head of the recently formed Cambodia National Rescue Party, is expected to return to Phnom Penh soon to lead the opposition against Prime Minister Hun Sen’s Cambodian People’s Party.

But Im Soursdey, chairman of National Election Committee, told Kyodo News on Friday that Sam Rainsy “can join election campaign as can all ordinary Cambodians, but not as a parliamentary candidate because his name is not on the election candidate list of the Cambodia National Rescue Party.”

The election law states anyone running for office who has been convicted of a crime must be pardoned or amnestied more than seven months before voting day.

Earlier Friday, Hun Sen wrote a letter to the king saying, “For the sake of national reconciliation and for the purpose that the election to be held democratically with all parties taking part” the king is requested to pardon the opposition leader.

The pardon covers Supreme Court decision No. 32 on March 1, 2011 and the decision by Appeals Court No. 84 on Sept. 20, 2011 that upheld Sam Rainsy’s prison sentences.

The prime minister sent the letter only a few hours after his father, Hun Neang, died of natural causes at age 90.

King Sihamoni signed the pardon later Friday.

Last Sunday, Sam Rainsy pledged via a Facebook post he will return to Cambodia before the election, even without a pardon.

The opposition leader, who holds dual nationalities, fled to France in 2009.

“Whatever I have done so far is for defending the territory and the nation as well as for serving the Khmer people. I dare to sacrifice my life for the nation and I dare to die for the purpose of rescuing the nation from disaster,” he said from Paris on Sunday.

He is expected to call his supporters in Phnom Penh via videoconference Friday evening to tell them when he will return to Cambodia, and from where.

Sam Rainsy emerged as Cambodia’s democracy icon when he joined the political arena in 1998 in opposition with his self-named party.

Earlier this year, he became leader of the CNRP after his party joined with the Human Rights Party to fight in the July 28 vote.

Critics claim Sam Rainsy’s convictions had been for trumped-up charges lacking merit that were politically motivated.

Yim Sovann, a spokesman for the CNRP told Kyodo News, “Sam Rainsy did not commit any crime. He is patriotic and therefore, without his participation the election is meaningless. As the pardon has been realized, it is good that Sam Rainsy will be able to compete in the election. But, we will wait to see if the election will be held fairly and freely.”

Eight political parties are registered for the election, but there is little doubt the CPP of Hun Sen, who came to power in 1985, will still be in power on July 29 and for several years after that date.