National Salvation: The Voice Party

Phnom Penh: The party has been under criticism due to the unprecedented flexibility of the party for the party after the so-called culture of dialogue.

When examining this party are cautious about its position and sometimes Sam Rainsy and Kem Sokha seems there are two contrasting voices by inducing fear about the future of the National Salvation Party. Mam Sonando, director of Beehive Radio has expressed frustration ready to party and hinted about the creation of a new party.

Sam Rainsy now has a good relationship with the Prime Minister Hun Sen said. His presence at the tasting investigation in Siem Reap, and his smile when walking with Hun Sen at the time, was a clear signal about his position to strengthen what he called a culture of dialogue. He also said he would be responsible with Hun Sen Cultural if talks failed.

He is the chairman of the party so his position is the position of the party. But, however, Kem Sokha, deputy party not present at the tasting investigation. In addition, his stance against Sam Rainsy's position. He still strengthen the party as an opposition party.

"I would like to remind the national party leaders at all levels do not forget that the National Salvation Party, the party is not a party partners of the ruling party in government . On the other hand, the National Salvation Party Election partnership The success of the party in the future. So, do not damage the image rescue party " . This is the speech of Mr. Kem Sokha said in "Ceremony validity vice president and party Pursat team" at the national party headquarters Pursat pm Monday, 20 April 2015.


Kem Sokha said this in the presence of the Sam Rainsy Party.

On the contrary, if we follow the activities of the SRP, he has a soft stance Kem Sokha. He wants to create and maintain a culture with Samdech Hun Sen and the CPP in the spirit of the agreement of both parties.

So it is a concern for the future of the party when leaders of the two contrasting two tone. A party must have a voice and a clear stance. R / N

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ACU Chief Denies Arrest of Ousted Court Director

BY AUN PHEAP | APRIL 9, 2015

Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) chief Om Yentieng on Wednesday denied that ousted Phnom Penh Municipal Court director Ang Mealaktei had been arrested following two days of questioning over serious graft claims, despite two well-placed officials indicating otherwise.

Mr. Mealaktei was removed in February, just hours after Prime Minister Hun Sen made a speech suggesting that the court accepted a multimillion-dollar bribe to release from prison the parents of fugitive general Thong Sarath, who is charged with orchestrating the November murder of businessman Ung Meng Chue.

Mr. Yentieng said Wednesday that Mr. Mealaktei was questioned at the ACU headquarters on Tuesday and Wednesday—after the Justice Ministry completed its investigation into him Monday—but had not been arrested.

“The ACU summoned Ang Mealaktei for questioning yesterday and today but the ACU now understands that two days of questioning and explaining are not enough,” Mr. Yentieng said via text message. “The ACU needs to meet and listen to the explanations of Mr. Ang Mealaktei many more times.”

Asked if Mr. Mealaktei had been arrested, Mr. Yentieng answered: “Not true.”

Earlier in the day, a senior official at the ACU, who requested anonymity for fear of retribution, said that Mr. Yentieng and his assistant, Heng Sokheang, had been friendly with 

Mr. Mealaktei over the past two days, questioning him in the mornings before sitting down together for lunch.

“Mr. Ang Mealaktei was summoned for questioning yesterday and also today, but he was not detained,” the source said. “Mr. Ang Mealaktei returned home after eating lunch with the two officials.”

Later in the day, however, the ACU official said that Mr. Mealaktei had in fact not returned home Wednesday, but had remained at the ACU headquarters and would be sent to court in the afternoon.

“I have received information that two court officials are preparing to receive Mr. Mealaktei,” the source said. “But I do not understand how the ACU could send Mr. Mealaktei to court because he is close friends with my boss [Mr. Yentieng].”

Brigadier General Kheng Tito, spokesman for the National Military Police, also said Wednesday afternoon that he had received word of Mr. Mealaktei’s arrest.

“I have received information that the Anti-Corruption Unit arrested Mr. Ang Mealaktei, but I cannot give comment about the arrest because they are working on this case,” he said.

However, minutes later, Brig. Gen. Tito called back and said: “I request that you remove my quote because it would kill me.”

Asked about the validity of the quote in question, he said: “It is not true.”

Contacted last night, Meas Chanpiseth, a deputy prosecutor at the municipal court, said that his former boss had not been brought to the court Wednesday.

“Today, there was no questioning, and there is no need to question him,” he said, before hanging up on a reporter.

Last night, however, BTV—-a television station controlled by Prime Minister Hun Sen’s daughter Hun Mana—posted a news report to its Facebook page stating that Mr. Mealaktei would be questioned at the court today.

The report says the former court director was being questioned by the ACU over the release of Maj. Gen. Sarath’s parents and also of Thav Thavy, a suspected drug dealer who was released on bail by the court and whose confiscated SUV was allegedly gifted to Mr. Mealaktei’s son.

“According to BTV reporters, the questioning of [Mr. Mealaktei] was stopped today and will continue tomorrow, when he will be sent to the court for further questioning,” the report says.

(Additional reporting by Sek Odom and Ben Sokhean)

pheap@cambodiadaily.com

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Kem Sokha Walks Free After 7 Hours in Court

BY KUCH NAREN AND ALEX WILLEMYNS | APRIL 9, 2015

CNRP Vice President Kem Sokha walked free from the Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Wednesday afternoon after being questioned by a prosecutor for seven hours over his connections to a plethora of protests that broke out in Phnom Penh following the disputed 2013 national election.

Less than a month after Prime Minister Hun Sen alleged that Mr. Sokha confessed to having tried to “topple” his government through the CNRP’s postelection protests in 2013, Mr. Sokha arrived at the court at 8:30 a.m., honoring a summons issued last week.

CNRP Vice President Kem Sokha emerges from the Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Wednesday afternoon after a prosecutor questioned him for seven hours over protests following the 2013 national election. (Siv Channa/The Cambodia Daily)

About 300 people turned out in front of the court to support Mr. Sokha, remaining calm throughout most of the day with jeering breaking out only when trucks full of notoriously violent black-helmeted district security guards slowly rolled past to force the crowd from the road onto the curbside.

Mr. Sokha emerged from the court shortly after 3:30 p.m., telling gathered reporters and his supporters that the extended questioning was tedious.

“The court prosecutor questioned me for seven hours, and asked for too many details by asking about every single word I have said at the demonstrations, in America and at all incidents,” he said.

“They asked me things that did not need to be asked,” Mr. Sokha said. “They asked me for the definition of ‘revolution’ and asked me why [union leader] Vorn Pao came to greet me at the airport when I arrived from the U.S.”

On Sunday, the government aired a 30-minute film on national television building a case that Mr. Sokha and Mr. Pao worked together in an effort to overthrow the government following the 2013 election.

Mr. Sokha said the prosecutor repeatedly asked him the same questions.

“They did not press any charges, they only questioned me,” Mr. Sokha said, before leaving in an SUV.

Meng Sopheary, one of Mr. Sokha’s lawyers, said deputy prosecutor Ly Sophana first focused his questioning on a case file concerning protest events on January 3 last year.

On that day, military police put down a garment factory protest, shooting dead five workers and beginning a wave of violent repression of a nationwide strike by garment workers that had dovetailed with CNRP protests.

“[Mr. Sophana] just repeatedly asked the same questions about the matters that occurred in the past,” Ms. Sopheary said. “Whatever he said, they would just pick a single word…and ask him for his interpretation of [the word].”

“They asked about the demonstrations, the words he said in the U.S., and he was also questioned about the matter of [housing rights activist] Tep Vanny blocking the road, the issue of garment workers staging a protest in front of the Ministry of Labor to make demands about wages,” she said.

Ms. Sopheary said the list of protests Mr. Sokha was asked about ran so long that she was not sure exactly how many were raised during the seven hours.

“We requested that the court prosecutor stop summoning him for questioning like this,” Ms. Sopheary said.

Mr. Sophana could not be reached Wednesday.

The court last questioned Mr. Sokha on July 25, 10 days after a violent street brawl broke out during a CNRP-led protest near Freedom Park. But the legal cases against him went dormant after he gained immunity by swearing into parliament with 54 other opposition lawmakers in August.

However, Mr. Hun Sen last month seized on a speech that Mr. Sokha delivered in the U.S. apologizing to supporters there that the CNRP did not remove the CPP during the postelection demonstrations in the second half of 2013.

“I apologize to brothers and sisters that I could not lead change 100 percent,” Mr. Sokha told supporters on March 13.

Within a week, the prime minister said the apology amounted to a confession that the opposition leader had intended to illegally overthrow his government.

“There’s a person coming to confess that they tried to topple the government and the CPP but that they failed, and are now apologizing to people in the U.S.,” Mr. Hun Sen said on March 18.

“If the robber and robber chief confess, what legal action should we take?” he asked.

naren@cambodiadaily.com, willemyns@cambodiadaily.com

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Cambodian Officials Verifying Identities of Rescued Fishermen

BY ALEX CONSIGLIO | APRIL 9, 2015

Officials from the Cambodian Embassy in Jakarta arrived in the Indonesian city of Tual on Wednesday to begin processing 58 Cambodians who were among more than 300 enslaved fishermen rescued from a remote island last week, according to the Foreign Affairs Ministry.

The fishermen, the majority of whom are Burmese, were rescued from Benjina island in Maluku province by the Indonesian government and sent to Tual following a yearlong investigation by The Associated Press (AP).

The AP revealed that the majority of the fishermen were trafficked through Thailand and forced to work on Thai-captained boats trawling Indonesian waters. They were dumped on Benjina for refusing to work and in response to a moratorium on foreign fishing issued by the Indonesian government.

Koy Kuong, spokesman for Cambodia’s Foreign Affairs Ministry, said Wednesday that Cambodian officials were working to identify the 58 Cambodians among the 319 freed from Benjina.

“Officials from our Cambodian Embassy have gone there to check and verify the information,” he said. “If they are Cambodian, Cambodian authorities will work to repatriate them.”

The International Organization for Migration, an intergovernmental body, is assisting the Indonesian government in caring for all 319 rescued fishermen on Tual.

“[The] IOM deputy chief of mission for Indonesia arrived [in Tual] today with Cambodia, Myanmar and Lao embassy representatives,” Joe Lowry, IOM’s regional spokesman, said Wednesday.

“IOM already started assisting embassies with documentation for verification of citizenship to eventually issue travel documents and will begin the process of screening victims of trafficking.”

Mr. Lowry said conditions at the government facility where the fishermen are being cared for were likely “spartan,” but far better than what they endured on Benjina, where some were kept in cages belonging to Pusaka Benjina Resources, the only registered fishing company on the island.

“Local hospital staff come every day for a daily clinic lasting a few hours,” he said.

consiglio@cambodiadaily.com

© 2015, The Cambodia Daily. All rights reserved. No part of this article may be reproduced in print, electronically, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without written permission.

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