Opposition Leader Sam Rainsy Statement Ahead of His Sentence

The following is a statement we obtained in Phnom Penh. It was issued by Mr. Sam Rainsy, opposition leader, ahead of the sentence which will be issued against him by the Phnom Penh Municipal Court, in regards to the defamation lawsuits brought by Prince Norodom Ranariddh, and Prime Minister Hun Sen:

December 22, 2005
06: 00 a.m. Phnom Penh time

A FARCICAL JUSTICE

Today, I will be “tried” by the farcical Phnom Penh tribunal in relation to two separate defamation lawsuits filed against me by National Assembly and Funcinpec President Prince Norodom Ranariddh, and Prime Minister Hun Sen. I have accused the former of taking bribes in exchange for his support for the ruling CPP, and the latter of being implicated in a deadly grenade attack in 1997.

While the Cambodian court has obviously made no serious investigation into the two cases and has come very quickly to the “conclusion” that I am guilty of “defamation”, the French court is in the process of investigating into Prince Ranariddh’s corruption, and the US court is dealing with a criminal lawsuit filed against Hun Sen by victims of the 1997 grenade attack.

In Cambodia’s present political life, the largely anachronistic 1992 UNTAC Criminal Law is being selectively implemented with the court adopting a double standard. Some provisions related to “defamation” and “threat to public security” associated with “incitement” are being invoked against union leaders, journalists, human rights activists and opposition members, while those related to “embezzlement of public property” and “corruption” have never caused any worry for government officials in a country known as one of the world’s most corrupt states.

Knowing how the Cambodian court operates, nobody will take seriously the “sentence” that will be pronounced today against me. I am confident that justice will eventually prevail and that I will be able to come back to Cambodia very soon. It is very likely that, with changing circumstances, such a politically subservient court will see its decision reversed or annulled. Everybody remembers that, following the 1997 coup d’état, Prince Norodom Ranariddh was sentenced to 35 years in prison by the very same court, but this sentence did not prevent him from returning to Cambodia in 1998 to resume his political activities after a prolonged exile.

In 1996, at the request of then Co-Prime Ministers Norodom Ranariddh and Hun Sen, King Norodom Sihanouk amnestied Pol Pot’s deputy Ieng Sary, who had been sentenced to death in 1979. I hope that in 2006, King Norodom Sihamoni will grant his pardon to all victims of political repression. Unlike Ieng Sary some thirty years ago, today’s government critics have never been involved in any killing, let alone crime against humanity. Unlike Prince Norodom Ranariddh, they have never been involved in the executive and are, according to prominent human rights organizations, as innocent as Prince Ranariddh in 1997.

All democrats must help stop Cambodia’s ongoing totalitarian drift.

Sam Rainsy
Member of Parliament
Opposition leader