Sivarak freed, Hun Sen meets Thaksin

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen on Monday morning gave an pardon letter to Sivarak  Chutipong, a Thai man convicted spying on Thailand’s fugitive former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, in front of his mother, Simark Na Nakhom Panom, and some Phue Thai members at Hun Sen´s house.
Cambodian King Norodom Sihamoni on Friday morning pardoned a Thai man jailed for 7 years and fined CR10 million for spying on fugitive former Thai premier Thaksin Shinawatra during his 4- day visit to Cambodia beginning Novem- ber 10.
The release of Siwarak Chothipong came as Thaksin paid a visit to Cam-bodia that could inflame diplomatic tensions between Bangkok and Phnom Penh. Thaksin visited Siwarak briefly in prison Sunday.
Following the release ceremony, Thaksin arrived the premier Hun Sen´s house by tighten security. Then, the Premier Hun Sen and Thaksin talked privately without an interpreter, the two used English. Hun Sen has never publicly given an address in English though there have long been rumors that he is a competent English speaker.
Hun Sen invited Thaksin, his family and some Phue Thai members to join a special dinner at the premier’s house.
Sivarak was initially sentenced to 7 years in jail for supplying Thaksin’s flight schedule to the Thai embassy when the former prime minister visited Cambodia last month.
“From now on Sivarak has freedom and can carry out any business,” Hun Sen said in front of reporters at the ceremony, which was also attended by Sivarak ’s mother and members of Thailand’s main opposition party.
Several reasons motivated the Cambodian King’s pardon of the Thai spy,  including the jailed man’s lawyer declining to appeal the case, Pheu Thai leaders asking for help from the PM Hun Sen, and Thaksin making efforts to seek help Sivarak, Khieu Kanharith, a government spokesman told DAP News Cambodia last week.
Sivarak told reporters that he would like to express his deep thanks to the Cambodian King who decided to pardon him, and to the premier Hun Sen for his intervention.
Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva on Friday welcomed news of a royal pardon but said the Thai government had not received official confirmation from Phnom Penh, the Bangkok Post reported on Friday.
Sivarak Chutipong arrived at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi airport on Monday evening and told reporters he “felt like a victim,” according to the Bangkok Post on Mon- day.
Sivarak, who was ac- companied by his mother Simarak na Nakhon Pha- nom and Puea Thai spoke -sman Prom pong Nop-parit, was greeted by a swarm of re- porters up on arrival.
Asked whether the Foreign Ministry helped him when he was detained in Prey Sar prison in Cambodia, he said the ministry did try to help him, but the Thai and Cambodian governments were not on good terms.
Asked if his case was staged, he said it was not possible since Kamrob, a Thai diplomat, contacted him first.
“I wouldn’t put my life at stake, since I already had a good job,” Sivarak Sivarak was quoted as saying by the Bangkok Post. “I feel like I’m a victim but in what sense I don’t know.”
He said it would be better if Kamrob Palawatwichai, the first secretary at the Thai embassy in Phnom Penh who asked him for former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra’s flight information last month, would clarify the situation.
“I have yet to talk Kamrob. I would like him to say something, or at least call my mother.”
Sivarak said he would return home immediately and had no plans to meet any senior Puea Thai officials.
Asked about the release and the Thai opposition’s plan to raise this case in the expected no-confidence motion against the government, Suthep, Thai Deputy Prime Minister was quoted by Bangkok Post as saying he was not surprised and believed Sivarak’s case was politically motivated.
Siwarak’s arrest deepened a diplomatic crisis over Cambodia’s appointment of Thaksin as an economic adviser, and its refusal to extradite the ousted leader to Thailand when he traveled to Phnom Penh last month.
Thaksin, who was ousted in a coup in 2006 and faces a two-year jail term in Thailand for corruption, landed in Phnom Penh Sunday.
The Thai government said it would press anew for his extradition, but Cambodian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Koy Kuong said such a demand would be “just a waste of time.”
Billionaire telecoms mogul Thaksin is living abroad, mostly in Dubai, to avoid a jail term handed down by a Thai court in absentia in September 2008.
Thaksin won two elections in Thailand and remains an influential political figure at home, stirring up mass protests by his “Red Shirt” supporters against the current Thai government.