A Change of Guard

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Friday 25 June 2010

Hun Sen accused SRP of recruiting terrorists as party members


By Khmerization
Source: RFA

Prime Minister Hun Sen (pictured) has accused the opposition Sam Rainsy Party (SRP) of recruiting terrorists as party members, a few days after the U.S court convicted 53 year-old Chhun Yasith and sentenced him to life imprisonment for the failed coup in 2000 against the Cambodian government, reports Radio Free Asia.

Speaking during an inauguration of the Sky Bridge in Phnom Penh on 24th June, Mr. Hun Sen extolled the U.S court for the conviction, saying it is the most effective way to fight against terrorism, while at the same time chiding Mr. Sam Rainsy for allegedly accepting people with terrorism tendency into the party membership. "Many terrorists have been recruited by the party leader (Sam Rainsy) to be members of the party and when the court convicted them, (the leader) came to ask for a pardon from me. This is what I want to say", Hun Sen was quoted by RFA as saying.

He was also quoted by Deum Ampil as saying that Mr. Sam Rainsy has asked him many times for a pardon of the convicted men whenever Rainsy met him. "All the time, when His Excellency met me, he always asked for a pardon for members of the Sam Rainsy Party who participated in the Cambodian Freedom Fighters' activities. He always asked and never stop asking", he said.

Mr. Kong Korm, vice president of the SRP, said his party does not have a policy of using force to topple the government. "Any actions that linked to the use of violence or the use of force against the government, those actions are not coming from members of the SRP", he said.

In November 2000, a group of armed men unsuccessfully stormed the Ministry of Defence, allegedly in an attempted coup to overthrow the government of Prime Minister Hun Sen. Seven people were killed in the attacks and 10 others sustained injuries.

After the attacks, the security forces arrested a number of people, including five members of the SRP, namely Hem Bunthoeun, Tumlorp Nimol, Seng Narin, Bun Chanto and Bun Chan Kheng who were all from the northwestern city of Pailin in Battambang province. They were convicted of terrorism and sentenced to betwwen 15-20 years jail by the Cambodian court.

Mr. Yim Sovan, spokesman for the SRP, said the sentences are too harsh. "The court should not sentence them to between 10-20 years just because they believed in or followed Chhun Yasith due to their ignorance", he said.

Mrs. Hem Ra, wife of Hem Bunthoeun, one of the accused, said her husband and his friends, who were Khmer Rouge defectors, were not involved in any terrorist activities or the armed attack as accused. She said the attack was a setup political theatre orchestrated by the government. "It was a political theatre that was organised and I dare not say anything further about it because they (government leaders) control the powers and they can do whatever they want", she said.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh, shut the fuck up ah kwak kbot cheat! You and your CPPs are the true terrorists!!!

Anonymous said...

The U.S court has given Hun Sen ammunition in which to attack Sam Rainsy and the Cambodian oppositions. This U.S court case against Chhun Yasith will encourage Hun Sen to hunt down opposition activists, like members of the SRP, by accusing them of being terrorists. I believe like Hem Bunthoeun's wife that the attack at the Ministry of Defense in 2000 was a set up by the Hun Sen government to hunt down the opposition activists. I don't believe that Chhun Yasith or the arrested people are stupid enough to stage a coup in the middle of the capital with just about 10 poorly armed soldiers. As far as I know, Chhun Yasith was arrested on tax fraud but because there is not enough evidence against him, the charges turn to terrorism charges against a foreign land. These charges are baseless and the U.S court has no evidences against him other than relying on baseless accusations and evidences provided by the Cambodian government. Life sentence for baseless allegation is very unjust indeed.