SRP lawmaker Son Chhay has made a special request to the Vietnamese Embassy that he be allowed to visit Khmer Krom monk Tim Sakhorn, who is under unofficial house arrest in Vietnam since being released from prison there in June.
In the letter to Vietnamese Ambassador Nguyen Chien Than, Son Chhay, who chairs the National Assembly foreign affairs committee, wrote that he wished to see for himself the conditions under which the ethnic Khmer monk is living.
Tim Sakhorn has not returned to Cambodia since the end of his one-year prison sentence for allegedly undermining “friendly relations” between Cambodia and Vietnam.
Son Chhay claimed that he had seen a document from the Vietnamese Ministry of Public Security that ordered Tim Sakhorn to return home to Takeo province before July 2.
“An explanation is needed on why Tim Sakhorn is still in Vietnam,” he wrote in the Sept 8 letter to the ambassador, a copy of which was obtained Tuesday.
Tim Sakhorn’s brother Tim Ban said he had been allowed to speak with Tim Sakhorn by telephone Monday, and had told him Son Chhay was intervening in his case in an effort to have him returned home to Cambodia.
“[Tim Sakhorn] said he is happy to return to Cambodia,” Tim Ban said.
“He said he is staying in a jail without a cell. He is still being detained,” Tim Ban added.
Tim Ban also said that his father, Tim Teang, intended to travel with Son Chhay if permission is given to visit Tim Sakhorn.
He added that he feared for his brother’s health.
“He has swelling,” he said, though he added that he did not know the disease.
Vietnamese Embassy spokesman Trinh Ba Cam could not be reached Tuesday.
An embassy official reached Tuesday afternoon said he was not authorized to speak on the matter.
