Former opposition leader Sam Rainsy faces life sentence for allegedly agreeing to cede four Cambodia’s northeastern provinces to the Montagnard groups residing in the Vietnam Central Highlands

Buth Reaksmey Kongkea

Phnom Penh Municipal Court on August 11, 2022  tried former opposition leader Sam Rainsy in absentia for allegedly agreeing to cede four northeastern provinces to the Montagnard, a French term referring to a Vietnamese hill tribe, also known as Degar, most of whom are from Christian ethnic minority groups residing in the Vietnam Central Highlands.

Presiding Judge Sin Sovannroath said Rainsy, 72, was charged with “handing over to foreign state all or part of the national territory” under Articles 27 and 440 of the Criminal Code. 

If convicted, Rainsy faces a life sentence. 

Judge Sovannroath said on April 14, 2013, Rainsy, who was then the CNRP president signed an “Agreement on Degar Indigenous Rights in Cambodia” with the leader of the Degar indigenous people Kok Ksor in the United States. 

He said that according to the agreement, Rainsy agreed that the future government of Cambodia led by CNRP will deal with the Degar indigenous people in the north-east of the country in accordance with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples as adopted by the General Assembly on September 12, 2007, in particular Article 3, Article 4, and Article 5. 


He noted that according to the agreement, the substances of the articles would be reflected in Cambodia’s Constitution as follow: 

Article 3: Indigenous people have the right to autonomy under the Constitution of Cambodia. By virtue of that right, they are allowed to freely pursue economic, social and cultural development.

Article 4: Indigenous people, in exercising their right to the economy, have the right to make and implement decisions in matters relating to their internal and local affairs, as well as ways and means for financing their autonomous functions. 

Article 5: Indigenous people have the right to maintain and strengthen their district's legal, economic, social and cultural institutions while retaining their right to participate fully, if they so choose, in the political, economic, social and cultural life of the state under the Constitution of Cambodia. 


Judge Sovannroath said that the agreement made between Sam Rainsy and Kok Ksor was later leaked in March 2018 and was posted on Rainsy’s Facebook account on July 16, 2018.

He added that after the agreement was leaked in 2018, Rainsy in interviews with Radio Free Asia (RFA) and Radio France Internationale (RFI), admitted that he had signed the Agreement with the Leader of the Degar indigenous people on April 14, 2013. 


During the court hearing yesterday, a court clerk read out a transcript of a video clip recorded in June 2018, of Rainsy to have allegedly said: “Those people who themselves are Degar people, they are part of the Cambodian nation. They live in Mondulkiri, Ratanakiri, Stung Treng and Kratie provinces. When we establish a new government, we will ensure that Montagnards, the Degar people, will live as free citizens in Cambodia. Their lands, their forests, their mountains will be returned to them.” 



Deputy Prosecutor Plong Sophal said that Rainsy’s remarks in his video recording and interviews with RFA and RFI as well as the agreement made between Rainsy and Ksor are specific and hard evidence against Rainsy. 

Sophal said Rainsy’s activities were as considered “treason” and it could not be pardoned because it violated Cambodia’s Constitution. 

“Sam Rainsy had signed an agreement with the leader of a Montagnard association in the United States and agreed to cede four Cambodian provinces-Stung Treng, Kratie, Mondulkiri and Ratanakiri provinces to the Montagnard group living in Vietnam.

“He is a traitor and I urge the judges’ council to strongly punish Rainsy with the maximum sentence,” he said.

Yong Phanith, one of Rainsy’s lawyers, said that although his client had signed the agreement and admitted to signing it, the agreement was only a shadow and had not been implemented yet.

Phanith said Rainsy nor the CNRP won the 2013 election as Rainsy had said or expected. 

The four provinces, he said, were not lost to any foreign state and still belong to Cambodia. 

“In this case, there is no criminal element to prove my client guilty. Therefore, I would like to ask the judges’ council to drop the charge,” he said.

A ruling is expected on September 13.






 



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