Sam Rainsy confident that justice will be provided to the victims of the 30 March 1997 terrorist attack

SRP MP Son Chhay pays respect to the memory of the victims of the 30 March 1997 grenade attack

30 March 2010
By S. Botum
Free Press Magazine Online
Translated from Khmer by Socheata
Click here to read the article in Khmer

13 years have already passed, the family of the victims, as well as the victims themselves are still eagerly waiting to receive justice with the punishment of the culprits and those who back them. However, justice in Cambodia seems to be out of reach as long as the CPP remains in power

At about 9AM this morning, opposition leader Sam Rainsy spoke over the phone from Paris to express his confidence that justice will be found for the victims of the grenade terrorist attack which took place 13 years ago.

With his voice broadcasted live over the speakers, opposition leader Sam Rainsy addressed those who participated in the commemoration of the 30 March 1997 victims held at the park in front of the old National Assembly, saying: “Wherever I am, I never forget to join the commemoration to the victims of the 30 March 1997 grenade attack. I am confident that it will not be long before the perpetrators and the backers of this crime will be sentenced by an independent court and dealt with according to the law.”

Sam Rainsy indicated in front of the family of the victims and the other participants that: “Some crimes were perpetrated several decades ago, however, the perpetrators cannot escape. Don’t think that with time passing by, the criminals would be free, they absolutely cannot be free!”

At least 300 people joined the commemoration, including 50 monks. Kong Korm, the standing SRP President, directly accused the government leaders at the time of being behind this terrorist attack.

Kong Korm sadi: “At that time, the SRP led the demonstration with proper authorization in order to ask for a judicial reform and to oppose corruption. However, the conservative government leaders who were installed by Hanoi did not seem to want the people to have freedom. The criminals are suspected to be the group of bodyguards of the 2nd prime minister [Hun Xen] and they threw 4 grenades on the demonstrators at that time.”

Kong Korm also called on the IRI, whose chief [Ron Abney] was injured during the grenade attack, to rethink about its recent statement in which it claimed that Cambodia is moving in the right direction. Kong Korm said: “It’s not true! We should unite to push for justice for the victims and for the government to reform itself.”

13 years have already passed, the family of the victims, as well as the victims themselves are still eagerly waiting to receive justice with the punishment of the culprits and those who back them. However, justice in Cambodia seems to be out of reach as long as the CPP remains in power.

SRP to mark bloody attack

SRP leader Sam Rainsy at a memorial last year for victims of the 1997 grenade attack. On Monday, the SRP will mark the 12th anniversary of the attack, for which no one has yet been brought to justice. (Photo by: TRACEY SHELTON)

Friday, 27 March 2009
Written by Vong Sokheng
The Phnom Penh Post

Opposition representatives say 1997 grenade attack will be marked with a commemorative ceremony at the site of the bloodshed Monday morning.

THE opposition Sam Rainsy Party is to hold a memorial Monday to mark the 12th anniversary of the 1997 grenade attacks that left at least 16 dead and more than 100 injured at a peaceful rally in Phnom Penh.

Sam Rainsy Party Secretary General Ke Sovannroth said the event would help highlight the fact that more than a decade since the attack, the Cambodian government has made no progress in bringing its perpetrators to justice.

"Twelve years on, no one has been tried for their crimes against [the SRP's] peaceful demonstration, and the government has never identified the perpetrators or found justice for the victims," she said.

Ke Sovannroth said the commemorative rally, to be held at the memorial stupa marking the place where the attack took place, would include victims of the attacks and their families.

On March 30, 1997, a crowd of about 200 supporters of the opposition Khmer Nation Party (KNP), led by former Finance Minister Sam Rainsy, gathered in the public park across the street from the then National Assembly to denounce the corruption and lack of independence of the judicial system.

In a coordinated attack, four grenades were thrown into the crowd, killing protesters and bystanders, including children, and blowing limbs off
street vendors.

After the first grenade exploded, Sam Rainsy's bodyguard, Han Muny, threw himself on top of his leader. He took the full force of a subsequent grenade and died at the scene. Rainsy escaped with a minor leg injury.

The KNP had received official permission from both the Ministry of the Interior and the Phnom Penh Municipality to hold a peaceful demonstration on the day of the attack.

Sustained impunity

Sam Rainsy, now president of the SRP, said that the attackers, like the senior leaders of the Khmer Rouge, had enjoyed total impunity for their actions.

"The leaders of the Khmer Rouge regime killed millions of Cambodian people and the tribunal has still not found justice for the victims," he said, adding that there was little hope of bringing the perpetrators of the grenade attack to justice.

"But we will not forget it. We will hold memorials every year in order to ensure that justice is done," he added.

Information Minister Khieu Kanharith said that three suspects were identified by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation, which reported that one died and one disappeared during the factional fighting of July 1997, while another remained on the run from authorities.

"The FBI is still helping us, and we have never closed the case," he said. "As long as we can wait, we will try to shine a light on the perpetrators."

But Ou Virak, president of the Cambodian Centre for Human Rights, said that the government had no real commitment to bringing the perpetrators to justice because the victims were largely supporters of the SRP.

He added that the government's behaviour had also done nothing to pry apart the legal impunity that still plagues Cambodian society.

"We found that few crimes against the opposition have seen the perpetrators brought to justice," he said.

Sam Rainsy held a commemoration ceremony in Choeung Ek Memorial

Friday, April 18, 2008
Everyday.com.kh
Translated from Khmer by Socheata

Opposition leader Sam Rainsy participated in a Buddhist commemoration ceremony on 17 April morning at the Choeung Ek Memorial center to pay tribute to the more than 20,000 people who were killed there under the Pol Pot regime. The ceremony included 70 monks and about 2,000 participants. In a speech given during the ceremony, Sam Rainsy said that this religious commemoration is conducted to pay tribute to the more than 20,000 victims who were killed at the Boeng Choeung Ek Lake. Sam Rainsy called on the UN and the International committee to speed up the trial of the KR leaders who are currently being detained, because they are getting older and they could die of natural cause prior to the end of their trial. Sam Rainsy declared that, in the name of the 14 million people of Cambodia, he asked that there is no further delay in this trial. He said that: “We cannot forget this dark historical chapter which started on 17 April 1975, and which led to the killing of more than 2 million people in Cambodia.”

Sam Rainsy Plans Ceremony for Fall of Phnom Penh

By Sok Khemara, VOA Khmer
Washington
16 April 2008

Opposition leader Sam Rainsy will lead a Buddhist ceremony at the Chhoeung Ek “killing fields” April 17 to commemorate the fall of Phnom Penh and the ascent of the Khmer Rouge in 1975.

Such events have been controversial over the years, with former Khmer Rouge calling it a day of victory that liberated Cambodians from foreign colonialism.

April 17, 1975, marked the beginning of Year Zero, when Khmer Rouge guerillas marched the populace into collective agrarian camps, under a policy that would lead to the deaths of nearly 2 million people.

“The ceremony is to pay respect to the memory of the victims and to ask for faster prosecution of all the former Khmer Rouge surviving leaders,” the Sam Rainsy Party said in a statement.

Five aging former leaders of the regime are now in detention at the Khmer Rouge tribunal, awaiting trial on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity.