PHNOM PENH, April 25, 2011 (AFP) - A Cambodian court on Monday slapped exiled opposition leader Sam Rainsy (pictured) with yet another two-year jail term, this time for accusing the foreign minister of being a former Khmer Rouge member.
Phnom Penh Municipal Court found the outspoken politician guilty in absentia of defamation and inciting discrimination for claiming in a 2008 speech that Hor Namhong once belonged to the blood-soaked communist movement.
Sam Rainsy, who lives in France, now faces a total of 14 years in prison if he returns to Cambodia following a string of convictions that opponents say are politically motivated.
"The verdict is unjust," Sam Rainsy's lawyer Choung Chou Ngy told AFP, adding that he will now discuss with his client whether to appeal the ruling.
Sam Rainsy was also ordered to pay eight million riel ($2,000) in compensation to Hor Namhong.
In September 2010, the leader of the eponymous Sam Rainsy party was handed a 10-year sentence in absentia for publishing a false map of the border with Vietnam.
It followed a two-year sentence in January 2010 for inciting racial discrimination and uprooting border markings with neighbouring Vietnam in an incident the previous year.
After exhausting his appeals against that punishment, Sam Rainsy was last month stripped of his parliamentary seat.
The opposition party and rights groups have said the convictions are an attempt to keep Sam Rainsy, 62, from taking part in Cambodia's national election in 2013.
He is seen as the main rival to Prime Minister Hun Sen, 60, who was a Khmer Rouge cadre before he turned against the regime. Hun Sen has vowed to stay in power until he is 90 years old.
Up to two million people died of overwork and starvation or were executed under the Khmer Rouge, which outlawed religion, property rights, currency and schools during its 1975-1979 rule.
Hor Namhong has long said that he and his family were prisoners at a Khmer Rouge camp, and has successfully sued people in the past for claiming that he had links to the regime.
Last May, a French appeals court upheld a guilty verdict against Sam Rainsy for remarks made in his autobiography about the foreign minister's alleged role in the hardline communist movement.
Phnom Penh Municipal Court found the outspoken politician guilty in absentia of defamation and inciting discrimination for claiming in a 2008 speech that Hor Namhong once belonged to the blood-soaked communist movement.
Sam Rainsy, who lives in France, now faces a total of 14 years in prison if he returns to Cambodia following a string of convictions that opponents say are politically motivated.
"The verdict is unjust," Sam Rainsy's lawyer Choung Chou Ngy told AFP, adding that he will now discuss with his client whether to appeal the ruling.
Sam Rainsy was also ordered to pay eight million riel ($2,000) in compensation to Hor Namhong.
In September 2010, the leader of the eponymous Sam Rainsy party was handed a 10-year sentence in absentia for publishing a false map of the border with Vietnam.
It followed a two-year sentence in January 2010 for inciting racial discrimination and uprooting border markings with neighbouring Vietnam in an incident the previous year.
After exhausting his appeals against that punishment, Sam Rainsy was last month stripped of his parliamentary seat.
The opposition party and rights groups have said the convictions are an attempt to keep Sam Rainsy, 62, from taking part in Cambodia's national election in 2013.
He is seen as the main rival to Prime Minister Hun Sen, 60, who was a Khmer Rouge cadre before he turned against the regime. Hun Sen has vowed to stay in power until he is 90 years old.
Up to two million people died of overwork and starvation or were executed under the Khmer Rouge, which outlawed religion, property rights, currency and schools during its 1975-1979 rule.
Hor Namhong has long said that he and his family were prisoners at a Khmer Rouge camp, and has successfully sued people in the past for claiming that he had links to the regime.
Last May, a French appeals court upheld a guilty verdict against Sam Rainsy for remarks made in his autobiography about the foreign minister's alleged role in the hardline communist movement.
6 comments:
Mr.Siam Lainsy has an elongated jaw bone like most of thai Tevoda figurine, Khmer has square jaw bone like depicted in Bayon sculpture instead. I'm wondering of the dominant percentage of his blood DNA of tai versus Khmer genes it contains. one thing I'm sure of is that he has zero DNA of Viet trait even though everybody came from Africa.
10:14 AM, whatever hater, you don't know Sam Rainsy, you Youn collaborator fool. You hate Sam because he hates Youn. He tried to stop Youn from taking Khmer land and that is why you hate him. You're the idiot that support Youn stealing Khmer land. When someone like Sam Rainsy make a stop to that, he's an enemy of Hun Sen, Youn, and you. Stop making an ass of yourself.
10:14 AM, this is a time to discuss about the Thai invasion, not about dividing Khmers. If you want to know how many Yuons are inside the Cambodian leadership, looks no further than Om Yingtieng, Sok An, Cham Prasidh, the late Hok Lundy, Hor Namhong.
The other like Hun Sen, chea Sim, Heng Samrin, Hor Namhong, Keat Chhon, Tea Banh etc, etc were all Khmer rouge who had Khmer bloods on their hands.
Anyway, the Cambodian court is Hun Sen's political tool for the persecution of his critics and his opponents only, therefore this court verdict means nothing, it only shows that the current government is a dictatorial and communist government only.
HOr Nam HONg is actually Chinese-Cambodian ever since his time in King SiHanouks government in th3e 1960s get our facts right, just because his CPP doesnt mean his viet. read history correct mate.
just because they that name doesnt mean their viet. its a french pronunciation of sinocised name.
perthkhmerguy
ឈ្មោះខ្មែរពិតដូចជា សុក សៅ កែវ គង់។ល។
ឈ្មោះលាយបាលីដូចជា ខេមរិន្ទ សុជាតិ
ឈ្មោះកាត់សៀមដូចជា ស៊ីសុវត្ថិ រង្ស៊ី ព្រោះបើសរសេរជាខ្មែរគឺ សេរីសុវត្ថិ សេរីសោភ័ណ្ណ សំ រ័ង្សី ឫបើរឹតតែល្អបើជាខ្មែរពិតគឺ
សំ រស្មី។
10:14 AM
The racist evil I seen so far.
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