Hun Sen Praises Tribunal Verdict in Duch Case

Wednesday, 04 August 2010
By: Chun Sakada, VOA Khmer | Phnom Penh
Source: VOA News

Prime Minister Hun Sen on Wednesday praised the Khmer Rouge tribunal’s sentencing of torture chief Duch, in the premier’s first public statement since the decision last week.(Photo:AP)

Prime Minister Hun Sen on Wednesday praised the Khmer Rouge tribunal’s sentencing of torture chief Duch, in the premier’s firstpublic statement since the decision last week.

Victims have said they are unsatisfied with the commuted sentence of the prison chief, under whose supervision more than 12,000 people were tortured and executed.

Hun Sen said the courts had made an independent decision free of political influence.

“The Royal Government of Cambodia respects the Khmer Rouge tribunal’s decision because the court is independent,” he said in public remarks. “We respect the independence of the court. The court sentenced Duch to 35 years in jail. It is up to the court, which the Royal Government of Cambodia must respect.”

In fact, Duch was handed a commuted sentence of only 19 years, following leniency and time served.

And tribunal observers say the court risks being tainted by political influence, with a number of senior officials refusing to cooperate with the international investigating judge and public statements by the premier against further indictments at the UN-backed court.

“The tribunal is facing problems of independence…relating to summonses of witnesses and progress on Case Nos. 003 and 004,” said Long Panhavuth, a tribunal monitor for the Cambodian Justice Initiative. “The government has not allowed the arrest of more suspects.”

Bu Meng, a former prisoner in Duch’s S-21, was not convinced of the court’s independence.

“The tribunal verdict seems to have had pressure from some circle or someone,” he said. “But [Prime Minister] Hun Sen said the court has independence and non-interference. That’s his right. The rights of the victims are different.”

Tribunal spokesman Reach Sambath said the verdict had the support of donor countries in a decision that was jointly arrived upon by international and national judges.

Union group threatens to strike

WEDNESDAY, 04 AUGUST 2010 15:02
By: MOM KUNTHEAR
Phnompenhpost

Garment workers fill the street in front of the National Assembly last month as part of a demonstration organised in response to the recently approved sector minimum wage.Photo by: Uy Nousereimony

ACOALITION of 13 union leaders sent a letter to the Ministry of Labour and the Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodiayesterday threatening to organise strikes unless talks are scheduled by August 15 to renegotiate the sector’s newly established minimum wage.

The leaders reiterated their objection to a decision last month by the Labour Advisory Committee, a body made up of government officials and industry representatives, to raise the minimum monthly wage for garment workers by US$11 to $61. Some in the labour movement had been calling for the wage to be increased to as much as $93 per month.

“We don’t want conflict, but we want to find justice for the workers who work hard but receive low wages,” said Cambodian Labour Confederation President Ath Thun.

But Chuon Momthol, the deputy director of the Labour Advisory Committee and president of the Cambodian Union Federation, said the wage had already been finalised and dismissed talk of a strike. The LAC ruled that the wage can next be renegotiated in 2014.

“Ath Thun can do this in the factories where members of his union work, but he can’t do it all over the country,” Chuon Momthol said. “We cannot keep holding negotiations again and again just because they ask for them.”

Chuon Momthol said that “90 percent” of workers were satisfied with the wage increase, which will be instituted in October.

The minimum wage for garment workers was last renegotiated in 2006, when it was increased from $45 per month to $50.

In a series of incidents last month, thousands of workers in the garment sector staged wildcat strikes in protest of the new minimum wage.

GMAC secretary general Ken Loo confirmed having received the letter, but said he could not comment as he had yet to read it. Officials at the Ministry of Labour could not be reached for comment.

Vietnam hails bid to halt ‘plots’

WEDNESDAY, 04 AUGUST 2010 15:03
By: VONG SOKHENG
PhnompenhPost

ATOP Vietnamese government official has hailed joint efforts to crack down on what he termed anti-Vietnamese political activity,including that of Khmer Krom rights activists, in provinces on both sides of the country’s border with Cambodia.

Speaking at the sixth annual session for the development of the countries’ border provinces in Phnom Penh yesterday, Vietnamese Vice Minister of Public Security Tran Dai Quang praised the cooperation of Cambodian authorities in halting anti-government “plots”.

“With the cooperation and positive assistance of the Cambodian armed forces, Vietnam’s police force has struggled to disable plots and operations of hostile forces opposing the Vietnamese revolution,” he told a group of 200 government officials.

Tran said joint operations had led to the arrest of one person for illegal possession of weapons and three others for anti-Vietnamese leafleting in the border area. He singled out Khmer Krom activists in the Mekong Delta as a target of the joint efforts.

“Such activities prevent them from hiring state and private radio broadcasting with the aim of propagandising against the traditional relationship and the alliance of the two countries, and reduces to a minimum the activities of the organisation ‘KKK’, which aims to oppose and destroy,” he said.

Rights groups say that the Khmer Krom – as Vietnam’s ethnic Khmer population is known – face ongoing persecution at the hands of local authorities.

Yont Tharo, a Sam Rainsy Party lawmaker and head of the Khmer Kampuchea Krom Cultural Centre in Cambodia, said any law-enforcement action that impinged upon freedom of expression was “unacceptable”.

However, Ministry of Interior spokesman Khieu Sopheak said Tran’s speech referred to a group of Khmer Krom who intended “to topple the Vietnamese government”.

“Our government respects the Constitution and the law, which will not allow any adversary group to use Cambodian territory to fight against neighbouring countries,” he said.

Siamese psychopath: Kasit vs PAD over 2000 MoU with Cambodia

The Son Of the Khmer Empire

The shameless face of extremist thief: Veera Somkwamkid

Now we have heard the new words from Kasit the Thug and his PAD the terrorist that they are not in the same position in regard tothe Thai-Cambodian MoU signed in 2000. Read it here.

The PAD is concerned that the 2000 MOU recognised the Siam-Franco treaties and the French map as basic documents for boundary demarcation. And, as a result, Thailand may lose many parts of its claim to land by the temple, in accordance with the map, it said.

PAD member Veera Somkwamkid submitted a demand to the government yesterday to revoke the 2000 MOU.

Foreign Minister Kasit said the MOU could not be terminated, as it was the sole legal instrument and framework for boundary negotiation with Cambodia.

“The MOU is not a matter of territory loss. It could not change the boundary line which was already demarcated more than a century ago,” Kasit said.

NOTE: Now we see that they are fighting each other over Khmer property. We also used to hear before that all of them want to revoke all the MoUs with Cambodia and they actually did revoked one of them, the MoU on overlapping waters with Cambodia in November 2009.

But now some of them change their tone and decide to defend the MoU when they realize that MoU will give them advantage in border deal with Cambodia.

Actually, I really welcome  the attention of revoking MoUs as I previously posted this regarding to the revoking of the MoU on overlapping waters. Read it here. And any termination of the MoU 2000 on land borders done would give us  as great   advantage as   the MoU on overlapping waters which we Khmer must warmly welcome since it was unnecessarily signed by Hun Xen’s regime.

Through this we also know that Siamese psychopaths are always flip-flopping and insincere. Once they say they are against the MoU and once they say they are for the MoU. Legally, MoU is internationally signed and before revoking it the party concerned must be diplomatically informed and bilaterally discussed. But Siam never comply with this rule. So  who on earth still trusts these scumbag Siam?

Siamese psychopath: Siam to find evidence to back their invasion of Cambodia

The Son Of the Khmer Empire

Prasat Preah Vihrear Khmer

The more they (Siam) talk about the conflicts the more they confess their  aggression on Cambodia over Prasat Preah Vihear. Readthe full article here.

[…]Suwit Khunkitti to chair a committee to oversee the Preah Vihear temple dispute and to examine Cambodia’s development-management plan for the ancient temple, according to a government spokesman.

[…]

The committee will also seek evidence to support Thailand’s claim to the contested 4.6 sq km area around Preah Vihear temple, he said.

NOTE: If we carefully read the meaning of the article from what they said it clearly tells us that those extremists, and psychopathic Siam have never had any evidence to back their claim over Prasat Preah Vihear so far except their alone arrogance and aggression to crazily bully around  in order to get what they want.

Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)

• Thai Aguments to Claim Khmer Preah Vihear Temple
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