Jailed Thai Soldiers Receives Embassy Visit

(Photo: Reuters)

By Chun Sakada, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
18 February 2010

Thai Embassy officials will be allowed to visit a former Thai soldier in a Cambodian military prison, after the man was sentenced to 20 years for planting landmines along the border, defense officials said.

Earlier this month, a military court found Suphab Wong Prakna, 39, guilty of planting mines in Anlong Veng, a former Khmer Rouge redoubt on the Thai border. He was arrested in February 2009 with mines and explosives on his person.

Cambodia and Thailand are engaged in a protracted military standoff, that has left at least eight dead, and the trial raised questions of whether both sides are mining the border.

Suwat Kaewsook, a senior adviser at the Thai Embassy in Phnom Penh, is expected to visit the military prison on Friday afternoon.

Prakna’s lawywer, Sam Sok Kong, said he believed the sentencing was fair, given the evidence against his client and the confession he gave. The court could have given the accused from 30 years to life imprisonment, he said.

Thai embassy to help Thai convicted of laying landmine in Cambodia

Tue, Feb 16, 2010
The Nation/Asia News Network

Thai embassy in Cambodia will offer aid to a Thai convicted of planting landmines along Thai-Cambodia border and was sentenced to 20 years in jail, Thai Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya said recently.

The diplomats are looking into what assistance the government is able to provide, Kasit said.

In a hearing last week, Suphap Vong Pakna confessed to planting at least five explosive devices along the Cambodia-Thailand border, claiming Thai soldiers paid him to do so.

Pakna's lawyer says his client received a fair trial. "I think he is getting a fair judgment according to the evidence and his confession, because the court reduced the jail term from 30 to life imprisonment to 20 years in prison based on our terror law, article 75."

The 39-year-old was arrested in February of last year after he allegedly entered Cambodian territory and laid landmines.

A Thai investigation reportedly found Russian-made landmines in the area which they say were recently planted and of a type that Thai soldiers have never used.

Thai authorities said the findings suggested that Cambodia may have been guilty of breaking the 1997 Ottawa Treaty, which bans signatories from using anti-personnel mines.

Cambodia, however, dismissed the accusation, saying any landmines in the area were remnants of the three-decade war.

The group Landmine Monitor says mined border areas between Cambodia and Thailand have the highest concentration of landmines in Cambodia.

Commercial Counselor To Look After Thais In Cambodia

SINGAPORE, Nov 14 (Bernama) -- Deputy Commerce Minister Alongkorn Ponlaboot on Friday revealed that the Office of Commercial Affairs in the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh had been instructed to give a top priority to closely look after Thai families, particularly women and children, to ensure their safety in the absence of some normal consular services.

Speaking regarding news reports about Phnom Penh's arrest of a Thai man for allegedly spying on fugitive ex-premier Thaksin Shinawatra, he said the incident had fueled his concerns for the safety of Thais living in Cambodia.

"I'm afraid of a possible repetition of the untoward incident in 2003" Thailand News Agency (TNA) quoted Alongkorn as saying here.

The Thai Embassy in Phnom Penh was burned by angry Cambodian protesters in that year.

The riots were sparked by remarks reportedly made by a Thai actress that the ancient temple of Angkor Wat, Cambodia's top cultural icon, belonged to Thailand. The actress has denied making the comments.

Alongkorn said the commerce ministry is attempting to maintain trade ties between Thailand and Cambodia, and its commercial counsellor remains in Phnom Penh.

Asked about the government's plan to evacuate Thai business people in the event of violence there, he said Thai government agencies concerned had contingency plans in place.

The minister stressed that the Thai government had attempted to separate the political problem from trade and economic affairs. The Thai premier had a clear stance on countering Phnom Penh through diplomatic channels while maintaining relations in business and economic affairs.

However, he conceded that the situation, if allowed to continue unabated, could definitely affect the trade, investment and tourism of both countries.

[Thai] Foreign Ministry closely monitors welfare of staffs in Thai embassy in Phnom Penh

November 14, 2009
The Nation

The Foreign Ministry is closely monitoring welfare of staffs in Thai embassy and the situation in Phnom Penh, the spokesperson of the ministry said.

Wimol Kidchob said the minister was closely monitoring the situation after the first secretary was expelled from Cambodia Thursday.

She said it was still unknown why Cambodia took the action.

Phnom Penh safeguards the Thai embassy even after Thailand wants to reclaim Preah Vihear back from Cambodia

Thu Jul 3, 2008
Cambodia safeguards Thai embassy amid temple spat

PHNOM PENH (Reuters) - Cambodia ordered extra police protection for the Thai embassy on Thursday for fear a row over the disputed 900-year-old Preah Vihear temple on their joint border might escalate into violence.

Phnom Penh police chief Touch Narath said he had posted the additional security after a request by protesters to rally outside the embassy, which was torched by a nationalist mob in 2003 in a spat over another ancient set of ruins.

"We had a bad experience in the past, so we have to be ready to prevent any ill-willed people burning the Thai embassy again," he told Reuters.

Cambodia is applying for World Heritage status for Preah Vihear, which sits on a craggy escarpment that forms the natural border between the fractious southeast Asian neighbours.

The International Court in the Hague ruled in 1962 that it belonged to Cambodia, a decision that rankles with most Thais to this day.

Groups trying to oust Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej jumped on Bangkok's backing of the Cambodian World Heritage bid at a U.N. meeting this week in Quebec, whipping up nationalist fervour to claim the government was selling out its heritage.

Cambodian Foreign Minister Hor Namhong has warned of consequences for the two countries' relations.

Cambodian politicians, no strangers to nationalism themselves, are in campaign mode for a July 27 election, making the chances of the spat spinnning out of control that much higher.

Military police chief Sao Sokha said he had extra forces on standby if the police struggle to keep order.

"We do not want to see any protest take place as we are busy with the election," he said.

The 2003 sacking of the Thai embassy -- also in the run-up to an election -- was triggered by a false report in a Khmer newspaper quoting a Thai soap opera star as saying Cambodia's famed Angkor Wat temples in fact belonged to Thailand.

Thai embassy fears another round of anti-Thai riots

Burning of Thai embassy in Phnom Penh in 2003

Fri, June 27, 2008
The Nation

Thai Embassy in Phnom Penh has asked the Cambodian government to explain to Khmers the complexity behind the dispute over the Preah Vihear Temple, a senior Thai diplomat said.

The move came after a growing number of Khmers expressed confusion over the heated discussions over the temple in the Thai Parliament and the Thai public.

"The Thai embassy in Phnom Penh wants the Khmer government to inform its people that the discussions have nothing to do with the mutual relationship," the source said.

The discussions started after the Thai government endorsed Cambodia's map of Phreah Vihear Temple which will be included in its bids to list the temple as Unesco's World Heritage Site.

Opposition bloc and some Thai sectors said the decision by the Samak government was an about face to the country's long standing position that said the country has the right to ask the world court to retry to the Preah Vihear case if and when new historical evidence surfaced to support Thailand's claim to the 10th century Hindu temple.

The Thai embassy is worried that the current misunderstanding may result in another round of anti-Thai riot, a repeat of a 2003 incident that ended in the embassy in Phnom Penh being burn to the ground along with Thai-own businesses in Phnom Penh .

The same source said Thai embassy in Cambodia is monitoring the situation in Phnom Penh closely amid the ongoing debate. On Thursday, Thai embassy staffs asked the Cambodian authorities why roads in front of the embassy were closed off. They asked if that was something was problematic.

They were informed that the roads were closed as Cambodia's People Party which has office opposite the embassy released a caravan to launch its election campaign.