Cambodian judiciary’s double standard

CAMBODIAN JUDICIARY’S DOUBLE STANDARD

After the first set of documents (15 sheets) presented at http://tinyurl.com/y9d7qho the following is a second set of maps and data (6 sheets) http://tinyurl.com/ycmw48z giving additional evidence of land grabbing associated with border encroachment in Svay Rieng province.

Whichever map is used (French 1952 1/100,000 map, US Army 1966 1/50,000 map or most recent Google Earth satellite picture) the conclusion is the same: The so-called border post (#185) opposition leader Sam Rainsy pulled out last October was well inside Cambodia and was not a real and legal border demarcation marker. All the so-called border posts in the area (from #184 to #187) are located in fact between 300 meters and 500 meters from the international border as defined on the maps.

The only legally binding map is the French 1952 1/100,000 map which was deposited at the United Nations by the Royal Cambodian Government under then-Prince Norodom Sihanouk in 1964. But this map says the same thing as the other maps.

Therefore, Sam Rainsy did not commit any crime last October because he did not pull out any “border post” or destroy any “public property” as the Hun Sen government claims. He just pulled out a few commercially worthless wooden poles on a private land at the request of the local land’s owner fearing land grab associated with border encroachment.

Those who have actually destroyed public property are Hun Sen government officials who are involved in the destruction, through illegal but lucrative logging, of hundreds of thousands of hectares of Cambodia’s invaluable forest. But those powerful and wealthy people walk free while powerless and poor farmers protesting land grabbing are put in jail..

The above story is another illustration of the Cambodian judiciary’s double standard.

SRP Members of Parliament