Suthep hopes Hun Sen will be sympathetic

By The Nation

Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban hopes Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen will be sympathetic to jailed Thai nationalist Veera Somkwamkid, who is in poor health in Prey Sar prison in Phnom Penh, by allowing him to be freed on a royal pardon.

"I believe that Samdech Hun Sen would understand his condition and would seek ways to help," Suthep told reporters, using the Cambodian leader's honorific.

Veera and his aide Ratree Pipattanapaiboon were arrested on December 29 near Sa Kaew's Ban Nong Chan while inspecting a disputed area on the border with five other activists including Democrat MP Panich Vikitsreth.

The five charged with trespassing have been freed as the Cambodian court suspended their imprisonment.

Veera and Ratree were convicted of espionage and other offences on February 1 and sentenced to eight and six years' jail respectively.

Veera's brother Preecha Somkwamkid, who visited Veera at the prison on Friday, said his brother's health was critical.

The Thai Embassy in Phnom Penh has requested that a doctor check on Veera or take him for medical treatment outside the prison.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Thani Thongpakdi said the embassy was awaiting a reply from Cambodian prison authorities.

The embassy was also preparing to help Veera and Ratree submit a request for a royal pardon, he said. "The royal pardon depends mostly on their decision but the embassy will help them fully."

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said it was very difficult to predict whether the two activists could obtain a royal pardon from the Cambodian king.

"We will try our best but it is very difficult to say whether they can get it soon," he said.

Veera and Ratree got into trouble when relations between Thailand and Cambodia soured. The two neighbours are at loggerheads over a long-time boundary conflict related to the area adjacent to the ancient Preah Vihear Temple.

-- The Nation 2011-03-08

keep yer fingies crossed

"... Veera's brother Preecha Somkwamkid, who visited Veera at the prison on Friday, said his brother's health was critical."

Only if he is prepared to admit mental health!

Nice try on the deputy Sunthep's part by addressing Hun Sen as Somdech. Pretty nice!!! I doubt the Cambodian PM will buy it.

They should send Kasit to beg Hun Sen, maybe that'll help a little bit since he used to call Hun Sen, "blood thirsty Khmer Rouge."

I'm sure Hun Sen has a copy of the clip in which Kasit called him all the names anyone can think of and is ready to play for Kasit to listen just in case he's suffered from

selective amnesia.

Edited March 8, 201115 yr by calbears

"Veera and Ratree got into trouble when relations between Thailand and Cambodia soured."

Huh, I thought they got in trouble by repeatedly crossing into Cambodian territory. That is against the law, a soured relationship is not against the law.

I still don't understand why this guy thinks he deserves preferential treatment. Go to the prison doctors if you're unwell.

What is even more puzzling is why Suthep is bending over backwards and stretching lips to ass to get Veera freed. Does he pay the same amount of courtesy to every Thai in a foreign cell?????

='RedNIvar' timestamp='1299578015' post='4267226']

"Veera and Ratree got into trouble when relations between Thailand and Cambodia soured."

Huh, I thought they got in trouble by repeatedly crossing into Cambodian territory. That is against the law, a soured relationship is not against the law.

I still don't understand why this guy thinks he deserves preferential treatment. Go to the prison doctors if you're unwell.

What is even more puzzling is why Suthep is bending over backwards and stretching lips to ass to get Veera freed. Does he pay the same amount of courtesy to every Thai in a foreign cell?????

No matter what any one thinks , he was proven guilty of his crime and must now serve his time , how many of those in Thai jails will he step forward to assist when they cry for help due to sickness , as I thought , likely countable on the hand of a man who has no fingers .

""I believe that Samdech Hun Sen would understand his condition and would seek ways to help," Suthep told reporters,"

I'm afraid that K. Suthep just doesn't get it. The practice of political interference with the judicial system is so ingrained in him from his experience in Thai government , that he believes it to be the world standard.

Hun Sen has stated emphatically that he will not interfere in the judicial process. Although, he has most certainly done this in the past ( no proof of this), we have no reasom to believe that he does not mean what he says. Whether he is motivated by the particular circumstances at hand, or he is trying to lead a new 'straighter' path is a moot point. He has said it and it is time that K. Suthep believes him !

I have some difficulty in taking the headline of this thread as the gospel truth. Just making the right noises?