Ranariddh (L) and You Hockry (R)NRP continues to accuse SRP about the grenade attack
Monday, December 10, 2007
Koh Santepheap newspaper
Translated from Khmer by Socheata
Phnom Penh – On 09 December 2007, You Hockry, NRP secretary-general and former co-minister of Interior, declared that after the 30 March 1997 attack, he issued a preliminary report to Prince Ranariddh who, at the time, was the No. 1 prime minister, based on the FBI report, however, Sam Rainsy was the one who made the FBI stopped this investigation. You Hockry made this declaration during a meeting with people in Tuol Kok district, at the NRP headquarters in Boeng Kak 2 commune, Tuol Kok District, Phnom Penh.
On 05 December, the NRP issued another declaration stating that it was very deceived about the response given by officials of the Ministry of Interior (MoI) to the letter of the prince, the former No. 1 prime minister, regarding the results of the investigation of the 30 March 1997 savage and inhumane grenade attack which killed 10 innocent people, and injured more than 100.
You Hockry declared that he co-signed with Sar Kheng, the (CPP) vice-prime minister, the report on the preliminary investigation, and he sent it over to Prince Ranariddh. He claimed that: “I personally participated in the investigation, and the results of the investigation which Mr. Sam Rainsy took to comment on, it was one step of the report which I received from the investigators to be submitted to Prince Ranariddh. However, the investigation was interrupted for a while because the FBI left after Mr. Sam Rainsy published it in the US.”
You Hockry added that it was a fact that the MoI wrote a letter to the FBI, asking the FBI to continue its investigation, but because the US pulled out, it was interrupted for a while. You Hockry added: “Later on, we reported it to the upper level which had their own committee. After the 30 March 1997 event, we had the July event (1997 Hun Sen’s coup d’état), at the time Prince Ranariddh left the country, and he no longer knows about this issue anymore.”
On 09 December, Khieu Sopheak, MoI spokesman, could not be reached for clarification. However, the NRP indicated that, based on Khieu Sopheak’s claim, “Prince Ranariddh, in his duty as the No. 1 prime minister, clearly knew about the information on this grenade attack.” You Hockry said on this issue: “I am not commenting about the issue raised by Prince Ranariddh, because I did not know or heard his words.”
The NRP expressed its concerns about the ending of the statute of limitation for this crime in the very near future. More importantly, the accuser in this criminal grenade attack can only be Sam Rainsy, however Sam Rainsy decided to pull the case out of the Cambodian and US courts. Not only that, Sam Rainsy wrote a letter to Hun Sen to express his regret for his past accusation against Hun Sen.
Sam Rainsy could not be reached on 09 December. However, each year, on the 30 March anniversary, Sam Rainsy always called on the authority to arrest the criminals involved in the grenade attack on the demonstrators in front of the National Assembly. Nevertheless, You Hockry indicated that Sam Rainsy took this preliminary report to publish in the New York Times. According to You Hockry, this made the FBI said that Sam Rainsy took their secret to publish, and they stopped the investigation for a while.
You Hockry said: “It was Sam Rainsy’s own fault, he took the preliminary report of the investigation to publish.” He added that even though the FBI pulled out, the MoI still pursued its investigation on this incident. He added: “The expert group went on to question a number of persons who are suspected based on several sketches, and their response were not clear yet.” This 10-year-old issue still continues to be a fishbone stuck in the throat.
On 05 December, the NRP issued another declaration stating that it was very deceived about the response given by officials of the Ministry of Interior (MoI) to the letter of the prince, the former No. 1 prime minister, regarding the results of the investigation of the 30 March 1997 savage and inhumane grenade attack which killed 10 innocent people, and injured more than 100.
You Hockry declared that he co-signed with Sar Kheng, the (CPP) vice-prime minister, the report on the preliminary investigation, and he sent it over to Prince Ranariddh. He claimed that: “I personally participated in the investigation, and the results of the investigation which Mr. Sam Rainsy took to comment on, it was one step of the report which I received from the investigators to be submitted to Prince Ranariddh. However, the investigation was interrupted for a while because the FBI left after Mr. Sam Rainsy published it in the US.”
You Hockry added that it was a fact that the MoI wrote a letter to the FBI, asking the FBI to continue its investigation, but because the US pulled out, it was interrupted for a while. You Hockry added: “Later on, we reported it to the upper level which had their own committee. After the 30 March 1997 event, we had the July event (1997 Hun Sen’s coup d’état), at the time Prince Ranariddh left the country, and he no longer knows about this issue anymore.”
On 09 December, Khieu Sopheak, MoI spokesman, could not be reached for clarification. However, the NRP indicated that, based on Khieu Sopheak’s claim, “Prince Ranariddh, in his duty as the No. 1 prime minister, clearly knew about the information on this grenade attack.” You Hockry said on this issue: “I am not commenting about the issue raised by Prince Ranariddh, because I did not know or heard his words.”
The NRP expressed its concerns about the ending of the statute of limitation for this crime in the very near future. More importantly, the accuser in this criminal grenade attack can only be Sam Rainsy, however Sam Rainsy decided to pull the case out of the Cambodian and US courts. Not only that, Sam Rainsy wrote a letter to Hun Sen to express his regret for his past accusation against Hun Sen.
Sam Rainsy could not be reached on 09 December. However, each year, on the 30 March anniversary, Sam Rainsy always called on the authority to arrest the criminals involved in the grenade attack on the demonstrators in front of the National Assembly. Nevertheless, You Hockry indicated that Sam Rainsy took this preliminary report to publish in the New York Times. According to You Hockry, this made the FBI said that Sam Rainsy took their secret to publish, and they stopped the investigation for a while.
You Hockry said: “It was Sam Rainsy’s own fault, he took the preliminary report of the investigation to publish.” He added that even though the FBI pulled out, the MoI still pursued its investigation on this incident. He added: “The expert group went on to question a number of persons who are suspected based on several sketches, and their response were not clear yet.” This 10-year-old issue still continues to be a fishbone stuck in the throat.
