Five additional suspects in the uprooting of border stakes summoned by the Svay Rieng court this morning

Sam Rainsy wants to be tried by Hanoi rather than by the puppet court


Five individuals who were accused of involvement in the uprooting of border stakes along the Cambodian-Viet border were summoned to the Svay Rieng court to provide clarifications on Wednesday 23 December 2009.

Even though last week, the Svay Rieng court accused opposition leader Sam Rainsy and his accomplices of destroying public properties, racial discrimination, and ordered them to be detained, the individuals who are summoned by the court to show up this morning, indicated that they are not scared at all.

A woman who was summoned by the court said: “There is nothing to fear about, I did nothing wrong because the border post was planted right on top of my rice field … I want the court to summon me immediately.”

Nget Chandara, a representativeof the Adhoc human rights organization in Svay Rieng province, indicated that the 5 villagers summoned by the court for clarification this morning do not belong to any political party. However, they all lost their lands in the area where the border posts were planted.

Border post no. 185 that the Cambodian villagers from Koh Kban Kandal village, Samrong commune, Chantrea district, Svay Rieng province, claimed that it was planted in the middle of their rice fields, were uprooted by opposition leader Sam Rainsy during a Kathen procession led to Wat Ang Romdenh pagoda on 25 October 2009.

Subsequently, a report indicated that border posts no. 184, 186 and 187 that are suspected of being planted inside Cambodian territories, were secretly removed by the Viet authority to erase proofs of Viet encroachments.

The uprooting of the border stakes by Sam Rainsy led to an angry outburst by Nguyen Tan Dung, the Yuon prime minister. He demanded that the Cambodian government takes appropriate measures against opposition leader Sam Rainsy and those who were involved.

SRP MP Son Chhay, the parliament opposition whip, led a group of SRP MPs to visit the actual border situation on 14 December 2009. Son Chhay told reporters that the planting of border posts led to the loss of large chunks of Cambodian territories to the hand of Hanoi.

On Monday, Sam Rainsy issued an email indicating that he is ready to clarify the Svay Rieng court on Monday [28 December] morning, however, Sam Rainsy said that the Svay Rieng court is merely a puppet of Hanoi.

Sam Rainsy said: “It’s useless and meaningless to defend yourself before a servant. You’d better address the master. Therefore, I am willing to show up and to be prosecuted in person in Hanoi because my trial is a political one first ordered by Vietnam’s government.”

In his statement, opposition leader Sam Rainsy also quoted the 04 November 2009 report published by the Voice of Vietnam whereby Nguyen Tan Dung, the Yuon PM, told Men Sam An, the visiting Cambodian deputy-PM, that: “Regarding acts and statements made by Sam Rainsy - President of the Sam Rainsy Party (SRP), who recently uprooted six temporary poles for Marker 185 between Vietnam’s southern province of Long An and Cambodia’s Svay Rieng province – [Vietnam’s Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung] proposed that the Cambodian government take due measures to deal with Rainsy’s acts of sabotage and not permit similar cases to occur, as they negatively affect the fine relations between the two nations.”

Meanwhile, Yim Sovann, SRP MP and party spokesman, indicated that the SRP is protesting the addition of more suspects into the lawsuit against Sam Rainsy. Yim Sovann added that Sam Rainsy takes responsibility for the incident, therefore there is no need to charge other individuals.