Sam Rainsy's Letter to the Cambodia Daily on his court cases

The following is a copy of the letter sent by Mr. Sam Rainsy, the opposition leader, sent to the Editor of the Cambodia Daily newspaper regarding the upcoming two court cases brought against him by Prince Norodom Ranariddh and by Prime Minister Hun Sen. The sentence on the two cases will be decided on December 22, 2005.

Paris, December 14, 2005

The Editor
The Cambodia Daily
50B, Street 240
Phnom Penh

Sir,

In "Sam Rainsy Case To Go To Trial Next Week" (December 14, page 12), you wrote: "The Phnom Penh Municipal Court is scheduled on December 22 to hold the trial of opposition leader Sam Rainsy, who is accused of defaming Funcinpec President Prince Norodom Ranariddh."

Actually, I will be tried next week, on the same day, in relation to two separate defamation lawsuits filed against me by Prince 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.

I would like to confirm that I will attend none of the hearings that will be held for the two lawsuits because I don't want to take part in a travesty of justice. I have been waiting for nearly one year to be "tried" in absentia. According to existing laws (Provisions Relating to the Judiciary and Criminal Law and Procedure adopted by UNTAC in 1992), I should have been "tried" within six months following the lifting of my parliamentary immunity on February 3, 2005.

Lifting a parliamentarian's immunity means depriving him of a number of his rights and liberties, in the same way as when you deprive an ordinary person of a number of his rights and liberties by arresting and detaining him. This can be done by the authorities pending a decision by the court to either clear an accused person of a given charge or punish him through a sentence pronounced by the judge at the end of the prosecution process. Fortunately, there is always a legal time limit for the period the authorities are allowed to deprive the accused person of his rights and liberties pending his trial. In Cambodia, the time limit is six months according to Articles 14 and 21 of the UNTAC Provisions. If there is no trial during that time period - I must specify here that any trial can be conducted whether the accused person appears in court or not - the accused person is automatically cleared of the charge pressed hitherto against him and his rights and liberties must be restored (Article 22). This should have been my case since August 3, 2005.

In spite of the law violations that have been committed so far, I will at least know for sure on December 22 whether I am guilty of any "crime" and what would be my "punishment". It will be easier for me then to consider what to do next.

Sincerely,

[signed]

Sam Rainsy
Member of Parliament

EXCERPTS FROM
PROVISIONS RELATING TO THE JUDICIARY AND CRIMINAL LAW AND PROCEDURE
(SNC/UNTAC DECISION OF SEPTEMBER 10, 1992)

• Article 14: Pre-trial Detention: "The duration of a pre-trial detention must in no case exceed four months (...). This period may be extended to six months if justified by the requirements of the investigation."
• Article 21: Time Limits: "Any accused person, whether or not in detention, must be judged no later than six months after arrest."
• Article 22: Release for Procedural Error: "In case of non compliance with the procedures set out in [the previous] articles (...), the accused must be immediately released (...). Violations by public officials of the individual rights enumerated in [the previous] articles of the present text will incur sanctions (...)."

To read the full text of the law go to http://cambodiapolitics.org/laws/untaclaw_1992en.pdf