-----Original Message-----
From: SRP <[email protected]>
To: SRP Cabinet <[email protected]>
Sent: Wed, Dec 9, 2009 4:42 am
Subject: [SAMRAINSYPARTY-For] No human rights for human rights defenders
10 December 2009
NO HUMAN RIGHTS FOR HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS
My parliamentary immunity was removed by the National Assembly on 16 November
2009 for the second time this year and only five months after the immunity of
two other opposition lawmakers, Ms. Mu Sochua and Mr. Ho Van, was removed. The
National Assembly is not independent and effectively “rubber stamps” political
decisions made by the Cambodian People’s Party and Prime Minister Hun Sen. It
spends its time doing this instead of defending the interests of the nation and
the interests of the ordinary Khmer people such as poor and vulnerable farmers
who are losing their vital rice fields and other farmland to the rich and
powerful.
Worth noting are the following points concerning the rights of Members of
Parliament as stipulated in Article 80 of the Constitution of the Kingdom of
Cambodia:
Members of Parliament shall have parliamentary immunity.
No Member of Parliament shall be prosecuted, detained or arrested because of
opinions expressed during the exercise of his or her duties.
The CPP-controlled National Assembly claims that procedures have been strictly
followed for the removal of my immunity as they have for the removal of my
colleagues' immunity. This is simply not the case. I wish to point to the
following:
The National Assembly Standing Committee merely complied with a request by
the Ministry of Justice to remove our immunity without conducting its own
investigation into the charges against us. In doing so, the Standing
Committee showed that it is a mere tool of the Executive Branch.
The National Assembly voted in a closed-door session to strip me of my
immunity in a clearly undemocratic process.
Local and national press, foreign diplomats, and other observers were refused
entry into the National Assembly during the vote so as to avoid public
scrutiny.
To date, I have not seen any official documents related to the charges which
have supposedly been brought against me by the Svay Rieng Provincial Court.
On 26 October 2009, MP Son Chhay wrote to the President of the National
Assembly recommending that a parliamentary committee be formed with MPs from
all political parties with seats in Parliament to investigate land conflicts
in Svay Rieng province. This request is in accordance with the Internal Rules
of the National Assembly. To date, the request has not been met.
On 13 November 2009, 15 opposition MPs from the SRP wrote to the President
of the National Assembly requesting the postponement of the removal of my
immunity scheduled for 16 November. The request was officially denied on 15
November.
Let me clarify the real issue in Samraong commune, Svay Rieng province where
the 25 October incident took place:
His Majesty King Father Norodom Sihanouk has shown His concern for the
situation in Cambodia’s provinces bordering Vietnam. Reacting to a report I
submitted to Him on 7 November 2009 about Cambodian farmers losing their land
because of border encroachments by the Vietnamese authorities in Svay Rieng
province, the Retired King wrote to Prime Minister Hun Sen asking for an
examination of the information and evidence I had exposed on the issue.
Rather than respond in an appropriate way to the King Father, the Hun Sen
government reacted by undemocratically removing my parliamentary immunity in
order to prosecute me because I dared raise an important national issue that is
embarrassing for the prime minister.
At his 16 November 2009 press conference, Mr. Var Kim Hong, Advisor to the
Royal Government in Charge of State Border Affairs, made two important points:
the border posts [I pulled out] are temporary markings of the border line
(moreover, Mr. Trinh Ba Cam, a spokesman for the Vietnamese Embassy in Phnom
Penh, was quoted in The Cambodia Daily, 2 November, as specifying, “The
wooden posts [Sam Rainsy is accused of having pulled out] were not official
markings for the border”);
the posts were on villagers' land [which is their private and legal property].
Article 44 of the Constitution stipulates:
“All persons, individually or collectively, shall have the right to ownership.
Only Khmer legal entities and citizens of Khmer nationality shall have the
right to own land.
Legal private ownership shall be protected by law. The right to confiscate
possessions from any person shall be exercised only in the public interest as
provided for under law and shall required fair and just compensation in
advance.”
The villagers/owners of the farm land were neither consulted nor were they
advised of the confiscation of or trespassing on their land. In accordance with
the Constitution, the villagers in Samraong commune are the legal owners of
their rice fields. The "temporary" border demarcation posts were planted in
their lands without their consent in contravention of the Constitution. They
therefore have the right to bring their concerns to their elected
representatives, to seek legal action and to seek financial compensation.
According to the Constitution, I have the full right to perform my functions as
an elected representative of the people. I am entitled to speak freely and to
enjoy parliamentary immunity privileges. In any event, I have committed no
crime.
Once again, the government of Cambodia is using the courts which are well known
to be its political tool, to silence government critics and, in particular, to
suppress the voice and rights of the opposition. They can purport to remove my
parliamentary immunity. They will not silence me.
In his address to the UN Human Rights Council on 26 September 2009, the UN
Special Representative of the Secretary-General for human rights in Cambodia
said that the government had used prosecutors and judges, while pretending to
uphold their independence, to intimidate or punish critics. He stated that the
government had applied the law selectively and that its supporters had enjoyed
immunities from the civil and criminal process for blatant breaches of the law.
I call on the international community to question the political commitment of
the Cambodian government led by Mr. Hun Sen to the rule of law and to judicial
reforms. I call on the donor community to condemn Cambodia's National Assembly
for lacking the political will to protect the rights of all Members of
Parliament and for failing to defend the independence of this institution whose
primary role is to serve the people it represents and to uphold the most
fundamental principles of human rights and democracy.
The alleged crimes of the opposition lawmakers all stem from our service and
accountability to the people and our public expression of opinions that are
seen as a serious challenge to the power of the CPP, the party in power.
As my colleagues, I am only a representative, a spokesman and a messenger for
countless victims of abuses and injustice. I am only saying aloud the many
things are going wrong in this country. I hold grave fears for the future of
Cambodia.
By condemning me through the undemocratic and farcical removal of my
parliamentary immunity, the National Assembly serves to condemn the people of
Cambodia to further oppression and the failure of democracy.
Sam Rainsy
Member of Parliament
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