Prince Sisowath Duong Chivan Monirak sentenced to jail for swindling

Prince Sisowath Chivan Monirak, the No. 1 vice-president of the Cambodian senate and the alleged father of Sisowath Duong Chivan Monirak, the accused.

Saturday, May 09, 2009
Dap-news
Translated from Khmer by Socheata

Phnom Penh: In the afternoon of 07 May 2009, judge of the Phnom Penh municipal court examined a swindle case in which the accused claimed that he is Prince Sisowath Duong Chivan Monireak, aka Van. The court hearing was presided by Judge Chey Sovann and it was attended by a large number of public participants. The accused was arrested on 01 October 2008 in Phnom Penh city.
The lawsuit brought by Suon Sun Hab, the plaintiff and a former driver (chauffeur) of the above prince, claimed that on 22 July 2008, the prince swindled him of $2,000, the amount for the down payment to a house purchase in Sihanoukville. The house for sale belonged to the prince and it was put on sale for $40,000. When the victim asked the prince, his boss, to see the house in which he put the down payment for, the prince always told him lies. Therefore, the victim decided to sue the prince at the Phnom Penh municipal court. The accused indicated during the hearing that he is also a victim as well, because the alleged house for sale belonged to Duon Sith, when Suon Sun Hab wanted to buy the house, the prince let Suon Sun Hab borrow $10,000.

Hieng Sopheak, the prosecutor, was puzzled: he said that if the prince spent $10,000 of his own money, and he considers himself as a victim, then Suon Sun Hab, the victim, should not sue the prince like this. Therefore, the prince’s claim made no sense at all.

During the hearing, the accused announced that he is Prince Sisowath Duong Chivan Monirak, and he does not have any identification, but he has a picture that shows that he is a member of the royal family only.

About 6 months after the prince was sent to rest at the PJ (Judicial police) jail, the victim withdrew his lawsuit against the prince.

After listening to both the accused the prosecutor, the judge decided to sentence the prince to 1 year in jail, starting from the day of his arrest.

A source indicated that the prince was not only involved in swindling cases like this one, but he was also involved in breach of trust cases as well.

A source indicated that Prince Sisowath Duong Chivan Monirak is the son of Samdech Sisowath Chivan Monirak, who is currently the No. 1 vice-president of the Cambodian Senate. However, Prince Sisowath Chivan Monirak disowned his son because the latter was involved in several illicit cases against the society, thereby he tarnished the image of the royal family.

To confirm that the accused is really a member of the royal family, DAP-news contacted Prince Sisowath Thomico. He said: “ Samdech Chivan Monirak disowned his son Sisowath Duon Chivan Monirak. Prince Thomico said: “I don’t seem to know that Sisowath Duong Chivan Monirak is the son of Samdech Chivan Monirak. There are some people who lie that they are members of the royal family.”

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Cambodia to strengthen security for ASEAN-EU ministerial meeting

May 11, 2009
Source: Xinhua

More than thousand of police and military police will be in force in order to safeguard the upcoming ASEAN-EU Ministerial Meeting to be held here in late May, national media reported on Sunday.

The Interior Ministry will be responsible for the security of the meeting, and military and police will be deployed to have the meeting not be affected by demonstrations and terrorism activities, the Chinese-language newspaper Cambodia Sin Chew Daily quoted Khieu Sophak, the ministry spokesman, as saying.

"Tight security will be in force in meeting-place," said Khieu, but he did not give the details of the deployment of the security force.

Delegations from 40 ASEAN and EU countries will gather here in late May to discuss ways to fight terrorism, human trafficking, drug smuggling, weapon proliferation, according to a statement from the government.

The 17th Ministerial Meeting between ASEAN (the Association of Southeast Asian Nations) and EU (European Union) will review previous and future cooperation between the two regional bodies from May 27 to 28, said the statement issued by the Cambodian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation.

Cambodian Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Hor Namhong and Vaclav Klaus, Czech President and current EU President, will be named as co-presidents of the meeting.

The 16th Ministerial Meeting between ASEAN and EU was held in Germany from March 14 to 15, 2007 with the adoption of the Nuremberg Declaration on an ASEAN-EU Enhanced Partnership which sets the direction and the agenda for ASEAN-EU relations in the years to come.

The meetings rotate between ASEAN and EU countries.

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Thai FM: Concrete response of acceptance from leaders to join ASEAN Summits expected Tuesday

BANGKOK, May 11 (Xinhua) -- Thai Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya disclosed Monday it is expected Tuesday, May 12, that there will be a concrete response regarding acceptance to participate in the ASEAN Plus Three and Related Summits among leaders and ministers from concerned countries.
Earlier, there was a positive signal from the leaders of the 15 involved countries that they would join the Summits. However, Indian Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh might not be able to join the Summits as his country was in the election period.

The 14th ASEAN Summit, Plus Three, and Six Summit, and Related Summits were initially scheduled to be held on April 10-12 in a hotel in the Thai resort town of Pattaya, next to Bangkok, but on April 11 the Thai government announced the postponement of it after the Thai anti-government red-shirted protestors stormed into the venue.

This year Thailand is the rotating chairman of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations or ASEAN, which consists of Brunei, Burma, Cambodia, Laos, Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.

The other concerned countries include China, Japan, South Korea, India, Australia, and New Zealand.

Thailand's government has proposed to the other ASEAN leaders and dialogue partner leaders to host the ASEAN Summits during June13-14 in Thailand's southern province of Phuket.

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Jarai ethnic community take the law into their hands while the incompetent cops are too busy taking bribes

Jarai community vigilantes with the Viet truck transporting illegal logs they have arrested

Cops from unit 623 and O’Yadaw district cops allow illegal logging in Ratanakiri province by Viet merchants

Monday, May 11, 2009
Rasmei Kampuchea
Translated from Khmer by Socheata

The Jarai ethnic minority group from Lom village, Pok Nhai commune, has accused border cops from unit 623, as well as O’Yadaw district cops of collusion to allow illegal logging in Ratanakiri province by Viet merchants.
Poy Phnom, Lom village chief, said that since 2007, Viet merchants had come to log precious wood in the O’Yadaw area and they took them back to Vietnam in large trucks.

Poy Phnom claimed also that the reason these Viet merchants brought in large trucks and cut down precious wood because they are in collusion with the Cambodian border cops and O’Yadaw district cops.

He said that the Viet merchants who conducted illegal logging only aim at No. 1 precious wood. After they are done logging, they cut the woods into pieces and carted them off to Vietnam in large trucks.

He said also that members of his community reported the case to Pok Nhai commune cops, as well as border cops, indicating that Viet merchants trespassed into Cambodian territories to conduct illegal logging, but the cops never arrested them. Quite to the contrary, the cops turned around and accused the villagers of not telling the truth.

Poy Phnom said that, in the past, community vigilantes stopped the trucks transporting illegal logs belonging to Viet merchants, and they brought them to the cops, but the cops made arrangements with the Viet merchants, took their bribes and released the trucks back.

The Lom village chief said that in the evening of 07 May, vigilantes from his community arrested one the trucks belonging to the Viet merchants, but another one fled near O’Cheang area, Lom village, Pok Nhai commune, about 6 kilometers from the “white zone” [No man’s land: disputed border zone].

He added that when the illegal truck was stopped, there were 4 Vietnamese citizens inside the trucks and they have confiscated 10 pieces of logs, each measuring 3-meter long with 40 to 80-centimeter wide.

The truck was brought to Lom village by the vigilantes, but the 4 Viets were handed to the Pok Nhai commune police. However, the next morning, the cops released all the Viets back.

The community indicated also that cops of the Pok Nhai commune are threatening the community and forcing them to return the truck back to the Viet merchant in exchange for 10 million dongs (~$550). But, the community refused to return the trucks back to the Viets.

Nguon Sovann, chief of the border police unit 623, indicated that in the case of the community confiscating the Viet truck, he is not involved with it because he is currently sick. However, he said that police officers working under him are following up on this case. When we asked the cops who are under the order of chief Nguon Sovann, they said that this issue involved that O’Yadaw district police instead.

Ma Vichit, O’Yadaw district police commissioner, indicated that, on the day the illegal logs were confiscated, he was busy: he went to a meeting at the Ratanakiri province. However, he said that his officers are already involved in this case.

Sao Vanny, director of the Keo Andong Meas forestry department, said that he did not learn yet about the community confiscating a Viet truck transporting illegal logs, but that he is sending officials to follow up on this case, however, he does not know the outcome yet.

Representatives of the Jarai community asked the government to take measures to prevent unauthorized Viet merchants to bring in large trucks to conduct illegal logging in O’Yadaw district. They said that the illegal logging started since 2007, and when they reported the cases to the border cops, no measure was ever taken, to the contrary, these cops only take bribes from the Viet merchants only.

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Khmer Krom make themselves heard on the United Nations doorstep [-Good job, KK Brothers and Sisters!]

Place des Nations (Geneva, Switzerland). Vien Thach, president of the Khmer Kampuchea-Krom Federation in Europe, co-organiser of the demonstration attended by Khmer Krom who came from all over the world to make themselves heard (Photo: Laurent Le Gouanvic)

09-05-2009
By Laurent le Gouanvic
Ka-set

Coming from Switzerland, France, Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, the United States, Canada, New Zealand or Australia, among others, over 200 natives of Kampuchea Krom, a region located in the Mekong delta, in Southern Vietnam, and once Cambodian territory, gathered on Friday May 8th in front of the United Nations Palace, in Geneva, Switzerland. The exceptional event was organised by the Khmer Kampuchea-Krom Federation (KKF) on the occasion of the very first hearing of the Vietnamese government by the United Nations Human Rights Council, under the Universal Periodic Review, a new mechanism meant to assess the human rights situation in each of the 192 member states of the United Nations. Interview, at the heart of the demonstration, with one of the main organisers, the president of the KKF in Europe, Vien Thach, who rejoices at a “historic day”.
On the morning of May 8th, the sky was favourable to the Khmer Krom cause, with an exceptionally sunny day in Geneva, Switzerland, and just enough wind for the blue-yellow-red flags of Kampuchea Krom to flap, along with the banners demanding the “right to self-determination”, “freedom of religion, expression and the press”, and the end of persecutions by Vietnam against “the indigenous Khmer Krom people”. The weather was also ideal to lay out mats on the Place des Nations, just in front of the eponymous palace, and make the demonstration a friendly gathering, with noum pang (sandwiches) being distributed and traditional dance shows. If some bemoaned having had to share the enormous square with another group of demonstrators, Vietnamese also calling for the respect of human rights and freedom of religion in Vietnam, the co-organisers – U.S. president of the Khmer Kampuchea-Krom Federation (KKF) Thach Thach, his counterpart for the European representation of the KKF Vien Tach, and representatives of NGO UNPO (Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization) rejoiced that they were able to bring their message to this international stage. Before going to the Palace of Nations, to attend Vietnam's hearing before the Human Rights Council, Vien Thach explained to Ka-set his expectations and the goal of the demonstration.

Ka-set: What are the violations of Khmer Krom's human rights you want to denounce with the United Nations?
Vien Thach: To give you the gist: First, the persecutions against Khmer Theravada Buddhism [practised by Khmer Krom as well as in Cambodia, Thailand and Laos most notably]; secondly, the grabbing of land belonging to Khmer Krom farmers; and thirdly, the falsification of Khmer Krom history by Vietnam. Our goal is to raise awareness in the international public on these issues and support the NGOs who support us, such as Human Rights Watch, whose [January 2009 report http://cambodia.ka-set.info/powers/news-hrw-human-rights-watch-khmer-krom-vietnam-090122.html Ka-set: Vietnam: Human Rights Watch analysts denounce violations of Khmer Krom rights] on Vietnam focuses largely on this issue.

K7: What do you mean by “falsification of history”?
VT: The Vietnamese government refuses to acknowledge that we are an indigenous people in this territory. They write in official documents and manuals that we are refugees who came from Cambodia and settled in Vietnam, whereas we have been there and occupied these lands for a long time, even before the Vietnamese. The Khmer Krom are indigenous people. You must not forget that 21 provinces in Southern Vietnam actually used to be Khmer territory. But in 1949, France gave our territory to Vietnam instead of returning it to Cambodia. From then on, we have been persecuted because Vietnam has a culture that is very different from ours, different religious practices... We have a lot of trouble living with the Vietnamese.

K7: The demonstrators gathered today live in Europe, North America, Australia or New Zealand... Where does the information you report on persecutions and human rights violations against Khmer Krom come from?
VT: Our correspondents, compatriots who live there [Editor's note: in the Mekong delta], communicate information to us. That is one of the reasons why Vietnam does not dare to do us as much harm now. They have signed international human rights conventions, but that was first to receive money from donors... Until 2001, the Vietnamese government was not concerned in the least about Khmer Krom's fate. But the community of Khmer Krom throughout the world asked the international community to react and help these poor populations.

K7: Then, are you hoping to attract the attention of Vietnam's donors by demonstrating on the Place des Nations?
VT: Yes. Governments giving aid to Vietnam as well as international institutions, like the World Bank, must pressure the government of Hanoi. We are pursuing our efforts in that direction. The European Parliament, for instance, knows the situation quite well now. The deputies have even voted with a very large majority to condemn human rights violations in Vietnam.

K7: You have mentioned the period when Kampuchea Krom was officially part of Cambodia. This historic reference features heavily on the banners and signs brandished during this demonstration. Does that mean you are hoping for this region to be integrated back to Cambodia?
VT: No, that is not really the issue today. Cambodia has never supported us. So, we want to manage by ourselves. Khmer Krom monk Tim Sakhorn, although he was the head of a pagoda, had taken refuge in Cambodia... And the Cambodian government defrocked him and sent him back to Vietnam, while it is absolutely contrary to the Cambodian Constitution to extradite a compatriot. We do not count on Cambodia. Our fellow citizens cannot take refuge in Cambodia without fearing to be sent back to Vietnam, to the police, in the conditions you can imagine...

K7: Would you be ready to call for the independence of Kampuchea Krom?
VT: It is a very important question. But there are still many things to do before thinking about it. We do not want to get ahead of ourselves. Our compatriots are poor and most of them live in the countryside. First, we have to give them education, improve their living conditions, ensure that they know human rights.
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The Universal Periodic Review

The Universal Periodic Review (UPR) is a new mechanism established in 2006 with the creation of the United Nations Human Rights Council. The UPR is meant to review the human rights situation in the 192 member states of the United Nations every four years. The ongoing process, under which Vietnam is currently being reviewed, is scheduled for completion by 2011. Ultimately, the goal is to equip the Human Rights Council with a universal mechanism recognised by member states, which will give it extra weight to enforce respect for human rights.

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Four Vietnamese nationals arrested for attempting to transport timbers out of Cambodia

Source: Radio Free Asia
Reported by Khmerization

Officials from Lorm village, O'Yadoa district of Rattanakiri province have said that 4 Vietnamese nationals were arrested on 7th May for attempting to transport timbers out of Cambodia to Vietnam, report Radio Free Asia.
One villager said: "They have entered our territories and cut down a lot of trees. We don't know how many times they did this. We have arrested them once before in that place, but they still come again. The Vietnamese border guards and the Cambodian police from O'Yadao came and they wanted to us to make a compromise (by releasing them)."

Villagers said that the Cambodian police threatened and coerced them to release those 4 Vietnamese, but the villagers refused.

Mr. Souvann Khamvan, deputy police chief of Rattanakiri, said that the crackdown on illegal logging is the duty of the O'Yadao police. He said: "Those 4 Vietnamese nationals were arrested by the villagers."

Mr. Chhay Thy, Adhoc investigator based at O'Yadao said that he is monitoring the issue. He said tha if the 4 Vietnamese illegal loggers were released it will be a conspiracy by the authority. He said: "We are investigating the case of villagers arresting the Vietnamese illagal loggers. And if they were released it would be illegal."

In July 2008, the villagers from Lorm villagers detained 5 Vietnamese trucks and electric saws and 3 motorcylces. They were arrested but the Cambodian border police released them in exchange for a little fine (bribe?).

Villagers knew that Vietnamese loggers have entered to log timbers in the areas since many months ago.

The latest news from RFA broadcast on 10th May reported that the 4 Vietnamese nationals had been released without charge after the Vietnamese authority had intervened.

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Official release on Don Bosco Sihanoukville Fire

Last press release

Don Bosco Sihanoukville | 05.09.2009. An electrical storm woke up Sihanoukville this morning and produced a fire within the studios of radio and television of the Don Bosco Technical School of Oupram Street. At about 6:00 a strong lightning struck near the campus of the school that is normally well protected from this kind of natural phenomena. Suddenly, smoke came out from the social communication - IT section. The fire was notices by the more than 100 borders who sleep within the compound, students of the technical and hotel school sections.
Efforts to extinguish the fire were useless, because it was enclosed by the sound proof rooms that, fortunately, avoided the fire to reach other areas of the two-stores building. The Sihanoukville fire-fighters sent two trucks. Two holes were opened on the wall to the destroyed studios. The presence of flames were unseen, giving the idea that the place just melted with the heat and produced a lot of smoke. It is possible that the lightning lit any of the many cables of the TV studio.

Losses
The studios of radio and television were completed destroyed. Inside there were two computers, a projector, audiovisual material like cds, video cassettes, vcds, cables and microphones. According to Fr John Visser, rector of the technical school, the losses can be evaluated in 10 thousand dollars, that were donation from benefactors from the Netherlands.
Other areas of the social communication - IT section were untouched by the fire like the classroom, the computer laboratory, the printing department and the web house. No body was hurt in part because it was early in the morning. With the proximity of the rain some teachers who sleep inside the school went into the building and turned off electricity systems and computers. The second floor dedicated to the secretariat section remained also safe from the flames.

The studios
The studios of radio and television were the most recent project of the technical school of Don Bosco in the Opram Street. They were built last February with the support of some benefactors from Holland to complete the programs of social communication and IT for the students. A technician in audiovisual production from US became the coordinator.

Fr Albeiro Rodas, vice rector of the school and coordinator of the social communication project, said:

"This is a new challenge for our project of Don Bosco in favor of our dear students. I am very happy that nobody was hurt. It would be a real tragedy. We are going to do it better... we believe in the love of Don Bosco, we believe in the young people and we believe in Cambodia. I hope many people will come to encounter this new need. We want the studios to be a center of production for the education and development of this country."

More info at www.donboscosihanoukville.org
In English 097 96 75 042
In Khmer 092 87 96 04

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Scene from rural Cambodia

Nuon Say, 68, smiles as she stands amid the chili field in her backyard in Russey Chroy village near the Mekong River, Kandal province about 32 kilometers (20 miles) north of Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Friday, May 8, 2009. Say spends her morning time to collect chili pepper during the three-month-long harvest season which starts from May before the Mekong river's flood season. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)

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Villagers near Preah Vihear protest

Friday, 08 May 2009
Written by Thet Sambath
The Phnom Penh Post

NEAR the disputed Preah Vihear temple complex, 20 people who said they were residents of Ko Muoy village protested their eviction, demanding more compensation and greater government transparency, local villagers said.

But at a press conference on Wednesday, officials at the Council of Ministers said that many of the angry villagers were not actually residents of Ko Muoy, a village that was largely destroyed by Thai rocket fire in April.
"The real problem was caused by those who are not really villagers who live near Preah Vihear temple," said Sous Yara, an undersecretary at the Council of Ministers, adding: "The government won't provide land to those kinds of villagers."

Ros Heng, the deputy governor of Preah Vihear's Chom Ksan district, said the land is controlled by the Preah Vihear Temple Authority and will become a "nature area".

Kong Sorphon, the director of Preah Vihear provinces's Department of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction, said the 473 families being moved to Sa Em will receive ample compensation in the form of 2 million riels (US$482), a plot of land 50 metres by 100 metres and a new house.

But a police officer from Ko Muoy who says he is being detained at a provincial police station with a colleague for inciting the protests, disagrees. "We actually do not want to leave this place because this place helps make our lives better."

On Monday, more than 100 villagers came to Phnom Penh and delivered a complaint with 209 thumbprints to Prime Minister Hun Sen's Cabinet of Ministers, the National Assembly and the Senate.

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Who should bear the responsability for allowing Vietcong bases and the Ho Chi Minh trail inside Cambodia in the 60s? Was Cambodia really neutral then?

An SGGP reporter asks Mr. Seo Go about the section of the Truong Son trail running through O Yadao.

Tracing Truong Son base in Cambodia

Friday ,May 08,2009
Saigon Gia Phong (Vietnamese Communist Party)

A team of SGGP reporters recently made a trip to Cambodia to find traces of a Truong Son troop base in Yadao District, Ratanakiri Province.

We followed the trail ‘14C’ running along Po Ko River to Le Thanh International border gate to Cambodia. From the gate, we traveled some ten kilometers to get to Nu Village of Ia Khai Commune, Gia Lai Province.
In the village, there still exist two wharfs. During the war, a boatman named A Sanh (his real name Puih San) would use his boat to transport North Vietnamese troops across the river to Cambodia.

We went across the river and began to follow the western Truong Son trail (also known as the Ho Chi Minh trail) running along the river to head to O Yadao District.

We were walking on a section of the trail where, between 2000 and 2005, the Kon Tum and Gia Lai Provincial Army Section unearthed more than 100 remains of North Vietnamese soldiers.

On our way to the destination, wild sunflowers were blooming yellow on both the sides of the trail under the brilliant sun. We at last arrived at the place formerly used as a safe base for Truong Son troops 40 years ago. The site is just some ten kilometers from the Vietnamese border and 74 kilometers from the center of Ratanakiri.

We went to border post 721 nearby and asked Commander Phan Dinh Thanh, commanding officer, to ask if he had any idea about the accurate location of the base.

Cdr. Thanh replied, “In 1984, in a patrol, jointly organized by the soldiers of military post 721 and those of Cambodian military post 623, we found a section of the trail and a station for Truong Son troops located at the border landmark of 271 on Cambodian land (or 272 on Vietnamese land). The trail paralleled with the twin stream, which flows into Pako River.”

He added, “On the trail, we still found the chains of tanks, oil pipelines, house frames and cooking stoves. We guessed that such things had belonged to a commo-liaison of the 559 Army Corps.”

We went with first lieutenant Huynh Van Sy of border post 721, who led us to the area where the base was said to have existed. Things have changed with time. Many forests around the site have now been transformed into green paddy fields, but the old Khmer villagers who lived through the war in the region still remembered the base and the North Vietnamese soldiers.

Lt. Sy led us to a house on stilts made from precious wood standing in the center of the village to meet Seo Go, a 65- year old local man. In the 1970’s, he was head of the village.

Seo Go said, “During the war, the troops were garrisoned in the forest, a kilometer from the village to the east. They usually came to the village to give help to the people. Sometimes, they also gave us food. There was also a large hospital for Truong Son soldiers in the forest, about a two day walk from the village.”

What Seo Go said helped us locate the site of Truong Son troops’ base in O Yadao District. We said goodbye to him and followed his directions to the site.

At the site, we could not find any trace of the trail because grass, bushes and trees had grown wildly. We could do nothing, but stand silently to remember thousands of soldiers who had fallen on the western Truong Son road for the cause of independence and freedom.

We left, pondering about the changing fortunes of life. Truong Son Mountain, the roof of Indochina, still emerges from the forests, the Poko River still flows from Cambodia into Vietnam, but the many historical sites on Truong Son Trail, if not found and restored in time, will be forever taken back by the forests from which it was born.

By staff writers – Translated by Phuong Lan

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