Rocket Suspect Remains in Thai Custody

Thai authorities will keep Sam Rainsy Party member Sok Yoeun in custody for an additional month while they consider an extradition request submitted by the Cambodian government, opposition party leader Sam Rainsy said Monday.

Cambodian officials allege Sok Yoeun was involved in the 1998 Siem Reap rocket attack that was thought by some to be an assassination attempt against Prime Minister Hun Sen.

They have pushed Thailand to return him here to face prosecution since he was arrested in Bangkok on immigration law violations last December.

Though he was released from Bangkok’s Special Prison Mon­day after serving six months for illegal entry into Thailand, Sok Yoeun was immediately taken to Thai immigration police to wait out an extradition hearing, Sam Rainsy said.

While he had hoped the Bat­tambang province native would be released to a third country—allegedly already determined— Sam Rainsy called Monday’s action “procedural” and said it was too early to say what is likely to happen with the extradition hearing.

“I understand the constraints faced by the Thai courts—they cannot reject right away the extradition request submitted to them by the Cambodian government,” Rainsy said.

Cambodian military intelligence officials have said they intend to pursue the extradition—the first such case under a recent extradition agreement between the two countries that has yet to be ratified by the Thais.

But intelligence chief General Mol Roeup has refused to disclose what evidence the government has against Sok Yoeun to justify his return.

The government’s entire rocket attack investigation has frequently come under fire from both Sam Rainsy Party leaders and human rights workers, who call it an attempt to intimidate opposition party members and claim there is no solid evidence to support a legal prosecution.

Sam Rainsy said being return­ed to Cambodia would be the “worst possible scenario” for Sok Yoeun, who was one of several targets of a sweep of rocket attack suspects carried out by the government late last year in the Battambang area.

Two other Sam Rainsy Party members were arrested but later released because of lack of evidence. Sok Yoeun fled to Thai­land with the help of Sar Sop­horn, the Sam Rainsy Party’s Bangkok office chief.

Sar Sop­horn was also arrested by the Thais with Sok Yoeun and will remain in custody until passage to a third country can be ar­ranged, Sam Rainsy said.

Sam Rainsy has said the Thais unwillingness to immediately send Sok Yoeun back to Cam­bodia can be seen as a minor victory for Cambodia’s political op­position members.

“But the government has al­ready won a victory,” he ack­nowledged.

Cambodian authorities “have done a lot with the Sok Yoeun case—many people are afraid, the commune elections in Bat­tambang are already jeopardized. Why would they want to take a poor man and do harm to him?” Sam Rainsy asked.

 

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