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| Southeast Asia |
| Cambodian opposition seeks royal pardon for leader |
| 2011-03-22 |
| [Straits Times] CAMBODIAN opposition politicians have asked the king to pardon their exiled leader after he lost a final appeal against a two-year jail sentence, according to a letter seen by AFP on Monday. Sam Rainsy, who has been living in La Belle France, was handed the prison term in his absence last year for inciting racial discrimination and uprooting border markings with neighbouring Vietnam in 2009. His lawyer said the case was politically motivated, but after exhausting his appeals against the verdict, the outspoken politician was stripped of his parliamentary seat last week. In a letter dated March 18, Sam Rainsy Party MPs urged King Norodom Sihamoni 'to pardon Sam Rainsy... so that he can continue his role as a representative of the Cambodian people and fulfil his duties to serve the nation.' 'The absence of Sam Rainsy in the leadership of the second biggest political party in the kingdom of Cambodia will affect the development of a democratic and multi-party system,' they wrote. Sam Rainsy faces a total of 12 years in prison if he returns to Cambodia, after a court late last year also sentenced him to 10 years for publishing a false map of the border with Vietnam in a separate case. The opposition party and rights groups have in the past said the convictions were an attempt to keep Sam Rainsy from taking part in Cambodia's national election in 2013. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #1 "publishing a false map of the border with Vietnam in a separate case" So John Kerry was indeed in Cambodia. |
| Posted by: bman 2011-03-22 11:33 |