Fresh summons for Rainsy
ppp Sat, 21 November 2015
Phak Seangly and Stuart White
The Phnom Penh Municipal Court has issued a summons for opposition leader Sam Rainsy, who already has a warrant out for his arrest. Afp |
(((
School of Vice:
Bickering and 'implicating' one another is not uncommon in politics.
However, in Cambodia only the ruling party have the power and tools to
make their accusations count.
)))
Senior
opposition officials met with party president Sam Rainsy in Manila
yesterday, even as the Phnom Penh Municipal Court issued a fresh summons
to the embattled opposition leader calling him for questioning in
apparent connection with the case of jailed Sam Rainsy Party Senator
Hong Sok Hour.
Cambodia
National Rescue Party spokesman Ou Chanrith said yesterday that the top
officials had left for Manila last night and had “decided on a few
points” regarding the ongoing legal drama in Cambodia that has seen a
warrant issued for Rainsy’s arrest over a years-old defamation case
brought by Foreign Minister Hor Namhong.
“One
[point] is what the MPs will do while this issue is still very hot,
very tense,” Chanrith said, adding that the party would meet on Monday
to discuss the situation, while declining to comment in greater detail
on the outcome of yesterday’s meeting.
The
Manila conference came just as investigating judge Keo Vandy issued a
summons ordering Rainsy to appear for questioning at the Phnom Penh
Municipal Court on December 4.
“Sam
Rainsy, the president of the CNRP, is accused as an accomplice in the
act of faking public documents, using fake public documents and
incitement of serious turmoil to social security, committed in Phnom
Penh on 12 and 13 August 2015 under articles 29, 629, 630 and 495 of the
criminal code,” the summons reads, adding that if he fails to appear,
another warrant will be issued for his arrest.
The
charges are almost identical to those faced by opposition Senator Hong
Sok Hour, who was taken into custody on August 15 after Prime Minister
Hun Sen called for his “urgent” arrest for posting a “fake” portion of a
1979 Cambodia-Vietnam border treaty on Rainsy’s Facebook page.
Chanrith
said the party would meet today to discuss the summons. Rainsy’s
Facebook page, he added, wasn’t exclusively administrated by the party
leader himself, and Sok Hour may have had the ability to post on it
through the page’s administrators.
An
influential, albeit unofficial, mediator had suggested that Rainsy
could return and avoid jail time by issuing an apology to Namhong, who
he suggested had marked others for death while detained at the Boeung
Trabek prison under the Khmer Rouge regime.
Far
from apologising, however, Rainsy again reiterated the accusation on
his Facebook page on Thursday, saying Namhong should “apologise to the
souls and the families of the victims” he allegedly “denounced”.
Government
spokesman Phay Siphan insisted yesterday that there were no official
negotiations to quash Rainsy’s case, nor could there be until he had
served two thirds of his two-year sentence and was thus eligible for a
pardon.
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