LI denounces the removal of parliamentary immunity from Sam Rainsy
Liberal International stands in solidarity with Sam Rainsy MP, leader of Cambodia’s main opposition Sam Rainsy Party (SRP), who was stripped of parliamentary immunity on Monday, 16 November.Cambodia’s National Assembly, dominated by the ruling Cambodian People’s Party, voted in a closed session to allow a lawsuit against Mr. Rainsy on charges of destruction of public property when he encouraged villagers who were evicted from a border area to uproot wooden markers that had been placed along the newly agreed frontier with Vietnam. The legal action is among several others recently taken by the Cambodian authorities aiming to silence dissents and intimidate the opposition. Two other SRP lawmakers, Mu Sochua and Ho Vann, were also stripped of parliamentary immunity after the government filed separate defamation lawsuits in June.
Bi-khim Hsiao, Vice President of Liberal International, stated: “We are appalled by the revoking of Sam Rainsy’s parliamentary immunity as a result of the abuse of power by the Cambodian government. Liberal International demands an end to the selective and undemocratic stripping of parliamentary immunity from Members of Parliament, whose duty is to represent the people and to act in their interest, particularly the MPs who speak for people who are deprived of their rights and abused by those in power. LI strongly urges the Cambodian government to take into account the core value of democracy, including tolerance of different views in a free society. We stand firmly in solidarity with Sam Rainsy and his colleagues in their struggles against oppression and intimidation and in their fight for democracy in Cambodia.”
NOTE: Sam Rainsy is the leader of LI Member Sam Rainsy Party. He was awarded Liberal International’s prestigious Prize for Freedom in 2006 for his continuous fight to implement freedom and democracy in Cambodia.
