picture: Hun Sen (left) and Ranariddh (right).
Thursday, December 06, 2007
Everyday.com.kh
Translated from Khmer by Socheata
source: http://ki-media.blogspot.com
The NRP issued a statement on Wednesday 05 December 2007 whereby Prince Ranariddh, the party president, called on all the victims of the 1997 grenade attack in front of the National Assembly to bring their cases to court, and the prince guaranteed that he will find lawyers to defend them.The NRP statement was published on Thursday’s edition of the Kampuchea Thmei newspaper, and it called on all the victims of the 30 March 1997 grenade attack in front of the National Assembly to bring their cases to court to seek justice for these victims.The statement claimed that the NRP guarantees to find lawyers to coordinate with the victims to prepare their lawsuits, and these will lawyers will represent them in court also. The statement also criticized opposition leader Sam Rainsy who decided to pull his lawsuits from both the Cambodian and the US tribunals, and the prince accused Sam Rainsy of writing an apology letter to express his regret for his accusation on Hun Sen.In reaction to the prince’s statement, Khieu Kanharith, the minister of information and government spokesman, told the Kampuchea Thmei newspaper that if a wound does not hurt, there is no point in poking it with a stick. He added that if the prince knows very well the grenade attackers, it means that the prince himself was also involved in this attack.Khieu Kanharith said that the grenade attack took place in 1997 when the prince was the No. 1 prime minister, and the government authority investigated the case carefully with the participation of the FBI. Why didn’t the prince help provide information to the authority at that time? Why is he concerned about this right now only? Khieu Kanharith added that, legally speaking, the person who knew this event very well, he should cooperate with the authority, but instead he chose to remain silent. This means that the prince was also involved in the collusion in this affair and he was an accomplice also. Therefore such a person should be punished by the law.Khieu Sopheak, spokesman for the Ministry of Interior, also told the Kampuchea Thmei newspaper that this 1997 grenade attack incident took place when the prince was the No. 1 prime minister, therefore he should know about this issue since that time, why does he act as if he knows about (the real killers) only now? Khieu Sopheak said that, as the No. 1 prime minister at the time, he was also the top responsible person. However, the prince is only now acting as if he just knows clearly about this issue, or he is acting as the new instigator to the investigation, this means that he was also an accomplice in this affair.
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