Request for a Plenary Session Meeting of the National Assembly to Remove the Immunity of the Former Monarch

Unofficial translation from Khmer by Socheata

Cambodian Action Committee for Justice & Equity (CACJE)
451 Revere Beach Blvd, Revere, MA 02151, USA
Email: cac_je@yahoo.com, Tel: 401 451 8090
Spokesman and Representative to Cambodia: Mr. Nam Tara, Tel: (855-11) 918 009

20 August 2007

To: Samdech Heng Samrin, President of the National Assembly of the Kingdom of Cambodia

Subject: Request for a plenary session meeting of the National Assembly to remove the immunity of the former Monarch, and to annul Article 7 of the Cambodian Constitution during the period of the Khmer Rouge Tribunal session.

Based on the request subject above, the Cambodian Action Committee for justice and Equity believes that the maintenance of the immunity for former Monarch, Samdech Preah Norodom Sihanouk, and the enforcement of Article 7 of the Cambodian Constitution during the progress of the joint UN-Cambodian Tribunal to judge former Khmer Rouge leaders and those responsible in the Khmer Rouge regime, constitutes an obstacle preventing the ECCC investigation judges from performing their work according to justice standards, and also, this action does not provide equity to all leaders of the Khmer Rouge regime.

Article 31 of the Cambodian Constitution stipulates: “… Every Khmer citizen shall be equal before the law, enjoying the same rights, freedom and fulfilling the same obligations regardless of race, colour, sex, language, religious belief, political tendency, birth origin, social status, wealth or other status.” Therefore, in their names as Cambodian citizens who are equal before the law, regardless of their social status, or other status, numerous documents and studies written by independent researchers have shown that Samdech Preah Norodom Sihanouk, the former President of the GRUNK, and later the President of the Democratic Kampuchea (Khmer Rouge), was an important individual among the public and secret individuals who were involved in the formation of the Khmer rouge movement, and the Khmer Rouge regime known all over the world as a genocide regime that unfairly killed more than 2 million Cambodian people.

In order to allow the freedom for the national and international co-judges to have sufficient rights, and they can use their own impartial judgments to issue warrants for suspects, witnesses, and victims to come and provide clarifications in front of the tribunal, and in order to guarantee the equity of the respective roles of the former Khmer rouge elders and those responsible, and especially, to apply the international law standards in the search for justice for the Cambodian people who were victims of the cruelty and inhuman actions (perpetrated against them), CACJE requests that the Cambodian National Assembly presided by you, Samdech President, consider the request above, and bring it up to the agenda of a plenary session of the National Assembly to discuss and approve.

I hope and trust that the importance of the provision of justice, allowing the victims to know the identity of the leaders involved in the killing of million of Cambodian people, will make the international community recognize the independence of the Cambodian National Assembly in its cooperation with the joint tribunal between the UN and Cambodia to successfully sentence the former Khmer Rouge leaders and those who bear high responsibility of this regime.

Please accept, Samdech, my respect.

(Signed) Serey Ratha Suon
CACJE Mission President

CC:
The King’s cabinet
Members of the Constitutional Council
Office of the Senate President
Office of the Prime Minister
Members of the National Assembly
National and International Media
Office of the spokesperson and representative of CACJE in Cambodia.

Labels: Heng Samrin, immunity, Khmer Rouge Tribunal, Samdech Preah Norodom Sihanouk

posted by Cambodian Information Center at 3:34 AM 0 comments