Dear friends,
The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) wishes to forward to you the following press release from the Cambodian Center for Human Rights.
Asian Human Rights Commission
Hong Kong
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A Press Release from the Cambodian Center for Human Rights forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC)
Press release – Phnom Penh, 22 February 2011
CCHR releases Legal Analysis of the criminal convictions of Sam Rainsy
The Cambodian Center for Human Rights today releases a legal analysis titled “Analysis of the Legal Grounds for Conviction and the Fairness of the Judicial Proceedings in the Criminal Cases Against Sam Rainsy”.
On 23 February 2011, the Supreme Court will hear the appeal of Sam Rainsy, the leader of the eponymously named Sam Rainsy Party, Cambodia’s largest opposition party, against his convictions of inciting discrimination and wrongful damage to property. The CCHR Legal Analysis examines Sam Rainsy’s incitement to discrimination and wrongful damage to property convictions which arose from his removal of a border demarcation post on the Cambodia-Vietnam on 29 October 2009 as well as his convictions on charges of forging public documents and disinformation which resulted from his subsequent online release of maps which he stated proved his allegations of Vietnamese encroachments into Cambodian territory. The Legal Analysis finds that the Svay Rieng Provincial Court and the Phnom Penh Capital Court of First Instance failed to establish the elements of the respective offences and questions the bases for the convictions that were entered against the opposition leader.
The Legal Analysis also considers the legality of the removal of Sam Rainsy’s parliamentary immunity concluding that as the acts and expressions of opinion that resulted in the convictions were in pursuance of his duties as an elected representative of the Cambodian people, they fell under the protection of his parliamentary immunity which should not have been removed. The Legal Analysis concludes by examining the fairness of the various proceedings against Sam Rainsy against standards of fair trial in Cambodian and international law, concluding that there are concerns as to violations of his right to a fair trial which, pursuant to Article 19 on the Law on the Organization and Functioning of the Constitutional Council, should be reviewed by the Constitutional Council.
On the eve of the Supreme Court Hearing, CCHR President Ou Virak stated: “This is a showcase of the absence of any separation of powers of government in Cambodia. The convictions against Sam Rainsy may leave the country’s largest opposition party without a leader at the next general election. What is most concerning is that the legislature, in removing his immunity, and the judiciary, in convicting him with little or no bases, have been the means through which this political end of the executive has been achieved.”
For more information, contact:
Ou Virak, President of the Cambodian Center for Human Rights
Tel: (+855) 12 40 40 51
Email: ouvirak@cchrcambodia.org
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About AHRC: The Asian Human Rights Commission is a regional non-governmental organisation that monitors human rights in Asia, documents violations and advocates for justice and institutional reform to ensure the protection and promotion of these rights. The Hong Kong-based group was founded in 1984.
