Khmer Times/Taing Vida Wednesday, 15 June 2016
Kem Sokha, the acting president of the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP), ignored his third summons in a month yesterday, while the working group reviewing and verifying citizen’s thumbprints confirmed that some irregularities existed in his party’s petition for Royal intervention.
Mr. Sokha was ordered to appear in court yesterday over the same case he also refused to attend at the Phnom Penh Municipal Court on May 26. He was called as a witness in a prostitution case involving his alleged mistress.
Three of his lawyers appeared at the court instead.
Ly Sophanna, a spokesman for the Phnom Penh Municipal Court, said investigating judge Thann Leng had examined Mr. Sokha’s case and will continue to investigate, but has not said what the actual procedure will be.
“The defense lawyers cannot provide an answer instead of the accused [Kem Sokha]. It’s not beneficial for anyone besides the accused himself to appear and answer it,” Mr. Sophanna said.
One of Mr. Sokha’s lawyers, Chan Chen, told Khmer Times yesterday that although Mr. Sokha did not appear for the summons, lawyers met the investigating judge to clarify the reason for his refusal to appear.
“I told the judge that my client obeys the law and is willing to appear, but because he is a politician and has immunity, the charge was not an actual offense as alleged. If law enforcement is fair, I believe my client will not be detained or arrested,” Mr. Chen said.
Responding to journalists’ questions in front of supporters at the CNRP headquarters, senior official and CNRP member Eng Chhay Eang said he was optimistic that Mr. Sokha would not be forcefully arrested because the ruling and opposition parties do not want the political situation to deteriorate further.
“We still believe that the two parties can meet each other in the future for discussions. Political conflict cannot use force or weapons for resolution. Only negotiation can end the political crisis,” he said.
“I do not believe that the ruling party will use weapons and the CNRP will not use people power to challenge either.”
Prime Minister Hun Sen said over the weekend that there will be no negotiations related to the judicial decisions to detain and prosecute Mr. Sokha, human rights defenders or National Election Committee members after the CNRP asked to discuss their cases as well as the possibility of acting party president Sam Rainsy, now in self-exile to avoid years-old defamation charges, being allowed to return before next year’s commune elections.
Meanwhile, the working group assigned to review and verify the thumbprints on a CNRP petition asking King Norodom Sihamoni for intervention in the political landscape held its second meeting yesterday.
After the meeting, Deputy National Police Chief Kang Sokhorn said the team had found problems with the petition, with many thumbprints looking alike.
“Some names had no thumbprints. Some thumbprints were not named. And some names with thumbprints were without addresses, so that we could not identify who they are. Interestingly, we found the same thumbprint for many names,” Mr. Sokhorn said, adding that almost 50 percent of the petition had been reviewed.
More conclusions will be made after 80 percent is reviewed, he said.
The CNRP have said throughout the process of reviewing their petition that its signatures were acquired legally. Despite this, more than 230,000 new thumbprints have been collected since the initial petition was submitted, CNRP senior official Pol Hom Said, adding that once a plan is devised for the petition’s delivery it will be sent to the Royal Palace.
“We have not figured out the way to submit the petition yet. I would like to stress that now we are gathering peacefully. It’s not a protest or demonstration,” Mr. Hom said.