7 November 2016
Today the Phnom Penh Municipal Court is expected to pronounce its sentence on jailed CNRP Senator Hong Sok Hour who is accused of "forgery of a public document" and "incitement to create public disorder."
On 11 August 2015 Senator Hong Sok Hour posted on the Internet a document purportedly showing a 1979 border treaty between Cambodia and Vietnam. It was a recently retyped version of the original treaty which apparently contains inaccuracies possibly due to a translation problem.
On 13 August 2015 Prime Minister Hun Sen publicly accused Senator Hong Sok Hour of "treason" by distorting facts and jeopardizing the country’s interests. He particularly pointed to the inaccurate way the treaty’s article 4 was presented in Hong Sok Hour’s posting and he ordered the Senator’s arrest. Accused by the tribunal of "forgery" and "incitement to create public disorder," Senator Hong Sok Hour was arrested on 15 August 2015 in spite of his parliamentary immunity and has been jailed since.
The attached documents are excerpts from the allegedly forged (or more likely ill-translated) version of the concerned treaty between the Popular Republic of Kampuchea (Cambodia) and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam signed on 18 February 1979. They include in particular the treaty’s article 4 that calls on the authorities to "redefine" (កំណត់ឡើងវិញ) the border between the two countries. But in the version posted by Hong Sok Hour (which has been deleted since Hun Sen raised his accusations on 13 August 2015), instead of "redefine" there was the word "dissolve" (រំលាយ). It was this inaccurate wording -- which is likely the result of a first translation from Khmer to English by somebody and, subsequently, a second translation from English back to Khmer by somebody else who apparently had not seen the original Khmer version -- that prompted Prime Minister Hun Sen to accuse Senator Hong Sok Hour of "treason" and to order his arrest and detention.
However, there is evidence that the whole incriminating document (full text of the 1979 treaty including the ill-translated word in article 4) was not produced by Senator Hong Sok Hour. In fact, it had been posted, viewed and shared on the Internet for many years before the accusation of forgery was raised by Hun Sen against Hong Sok Hour in August 2015.
An appropriate technical research – that the Cambodian tribunal could easily do by itself – leads to at least an Internet site showing that the incriminating document posted by Senator Hong Sok Hour on 11 August 2015 and deleted two days later, had been circulating on the Web long before its posting by Hong Sok Hour and it originated from a source totally independent from Hong Sok Hour, who is therefore unfairly accused of forgery.
A first concrete evidence of Senator Hong Sok Hour’s innocence is represented by this US-based independent Web site www.worldkhmerradioonline.com with this specific page http://www.worldkhmerradioonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/traity-197918feb.pdf posted since 17 March 2013.
Sam Rainsy
CNRP President
Today the Phnom Penh Municipal Court is expected to pronounce its sentence on jailed CNRP Senator Hong Sok Hour who is accused of "forgery of a public document" and "incitement to create public disorder."
On 11 August 2015 Senator Hong Sok Hour posted on the Internet a document purportedly showing a 1979 border treaty between Cambodia and Vietnam. It was a recently retyped version of the original treaty which apparently contains inaccuracies possibly due to a translation problem.
On 13 August 2015 Prime Minister Hun Sen publicly accused Senator Hong Sok Hour of "treason" by distorting facts and jeopardizing the country’s interests. He particularly pointed to the inaccurate way the treaty’s article 4 was presented in Hong Sok Hour’s posting and he ordered the Senator’s arrest. Accused by the tribunal of "forgery" and "incitement to create public disorder," Senator Hong Sok Hour was arrested on 15 August 2015 in spite of his parliamentary immunity and has been jailed since.
The attached documents are excerpts from the allegedly forged (or more likely ill-translated) version of the concerned treaty between the Popular Republic of Kampuchea (Cambodia) and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam signed on 18 February 1979. They include in particular the treaty’s article 4 that calls on the authorities to "redefine" (កំណត់ឡើងវិញ) the border between the two countries. But in the version posted by Hong Sok Hour (which has been deleted since Hun Sen raised his accusations on 13 August 2015), instead of "redefine" there was the word "dissolve" (រំលាយ). It was this inaccurate wording -- which is likely the result of a first translation from Khmer to English by somebody and, subsequently, a second translation from English back to Khmer by somebody else who apparently had not seen the original Khmer version -- that prompted Prime Minister Hun Sen to accuse Senator Hong Sok Hour of "treason" and to order his arrest and detention.
However, there is evidence that the whole incriminating document (full text of the 1979 treaty including the ill-translated word in article 4) was not produced by Senator Hong Sok Hour. In fact, it had been posted, viewed and shared on the Internet for many years before the accusation of forgery was raised by Hun Sen against Hong Sok Hour in August 2015.
An appropriate technical research – that the Cambodian tribunal could easily do by itself – leads to at least an Internet site showing that the incriminating document posted by Senator Hong Sok Hour on 11 August 2015 and deleted two days later, had been circulating on the Web long before its posting by Hong Sok Hour and it originated from a source totally independent from Hong Sok Hour, who is therefore unfairly accused of forgery.
A first concrete evidence of Senator Hong Sok Hour’s innocence is represented by this US-based independent Web site www.worldkhmerradioonline.com with this specific page http://www.worldkhmerradioonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/traity-197918feb.pdf posted since 17 March 2013.
Sam Rainsy
CNRP President
