VZCZCXRO0066
OO RUEHCHI RUEHDT RUEHHM RUEHNH
DE RUEHPF #0949/01 3520912
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 180912Z DEC 09
FM AMEMBASSY PHNOM PENH
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 1483
INFO RUCNASE/ASEAN MEMBER COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHBS/AMEMBASSY BRUSSELS PRIORITY 0127
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS PRIORITY 0731
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA PRIORITY 1708

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 PHNOM PENH 000949 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EAP/MLS, DRL, P, D 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PHUM KJUS PREL CB
SUBJECT: AS NOOSE TIGHTENS, OUTSPOKEN SAM RAINSY TO SEND 
LAWYER TO ANSWER SUMMONS 
 
REF: PHNOM PENH 847 
 
SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED.  NOT FOR INTERNET DISSEMINATION. 
 
¶1. (SBU)  SUMMARY: The lawyer for opposition party leader Sam 
Rainsy said that Rainsy will not return from France to answer 
a summons from the Svay Rieng province investigating judge in 
connection with a case related to a Cambodia-Vietnam border 
demarcation incident on October 25.  The summons states 
Rainsy is to be questioned on charges of breaking temporary 
border posts and inciting racial/national hatred.  Rainsy has 
lashed out at the Svay Rieng "kangaroo court" and continues 
to attempt to assume full responsibility for the alleged 
destruction of temporary border markers during a publicity 
stunt to highlight the sensitive border demarcation process. 
Cambodian authorities are responding to official Vietnamese 
claims of interference in the border's demarcation.  While 
the Sam Rainsy Party is content to exploit their own brand of 
anti-Vietnamese nationalism in counterpoint to the Hun Sen 
government's virulent anti-Thai sentiments, there is no 
apparent exit strategy from the court case for Rainsy, whom 
Hun Sen condemned for supporting the Thai, adding that Rainsy 
would have to serve out at least two thirds of any jail 
sentence handed down.  END SUMMARY. 
 
Handling of the Ongoing Investigation 
------------------------------------- 
 
¶2. (SBU) Attorney Chou Chhun Ngy told us December 18 that 
Rainsy has asked the lawyer to go in his place to answer the 
summons for questioning on the two counts.  The summons 
explicitly states that if Rainsy does not appear on December 
28, an arrest warrant will be issued for Rainsy's official 
escort to the questioning by Svay Rieng investigating judge 
Long Kesphyrum.  Rainsy's parliamentary immunity was lifted 
on November 16 to accommodate this legal process (Ref A). 
Rainsy's lawyer also will travel to Svay Rieng early next 
week to submit a list of witnesses he wants the investigating 
judge to interview.  (NOTE:  We understand that one of these 
witnesses will assert that Rainsy himself did not pull out 
any of the rough wooden stakes marking an underground cement 
border marker, although Rainsy can clearly be seen in YouTube 
videos cheering on those who did.  END NOTE.)  On the charge 
of racial incitement, Rainsy's use of the virulent racial 
slur "Yuon" against the "invading" Vietnamese will be more 
difficult to address, as evidenced by the silence by most 
Rainsy activists on this point or the rationale given that 
the slur has long been in use. 
 
Rainsy's Logic of Martyrdom 
--------------------------- 
 
¶3. (SBU) Rainsy early on denied that he was involved in the 
October 25 removal of temporary border markers (four of which 
are currently being held in local Svay Rieng farmers' houses 
and two of which were moved by SRP activists to Phnom Penh, 
according to SRP sources), or alternatively argued that the 
rough-hewn, tree-branch stakes were of no financial value and 
meaningless.  The undisturbed cement post in the ground 
underneath these stakes is indeed the official physical basis 
for the bilateral border marker, as confirmed by Senior 
Minister Var Kim Hong, Chairman of the RGC Joint Border 
Committee (JBC).  Since mid-November, however, Rainsy has 
claimed to be the symbolic defender against "encroachment" 
and -- despite the facts -- now claims that he himself 
removed the stakes.  This should be considered an act in 
defense of the nation and the peoples' land, Rainsy has 
argued, not a crime. 
 
SRP Joins in the Game 
--------------------- 
 
¶4.  (SBU) With the exception of two others, all Sam Rainsy 
parliamentarians descended on the Svay Rieng border marker 
site on December 14 to view the situation, to reaffirm that 
the cement pole in the ground (about 10 inches in diameter) 
remained there, and to reiterate the SRP's concern for the 
eastern border even as the RGC focused on the western border 
with Thailand.  Although there was a scuffle with about 100 
police attempting to block the way, the event came off "quite 
okay", according to SRP MP Son Chhay, who said the police 
leadership intervened at least twice to instruct 
rank-and-file security forces not to harm anyone and 
parliamentarians were able to do their duty to inspect the 
site. 
 
 
PHNOM PENH 00000949  002 OF 002 
 
 
¶5.  (SBU) Son Chhay said that the SRP has now called for an 
explanation of the border demarcation process in the National 
Assembly and that Deputy Prime Minister Sok An will appear 
before a full session of parliament on December 24 to answer 
a long list of questions regarding the border posed by SRP. 
 
A Few Hitches in the SRP Plan 
----------------------------- 
 
¶6.  (SBU) Son Chhay noted to Pol/Econ Chief that he believed 
that the RGC Land Law applied to all land adjacent to the 
demarcated border, which could remain private land.  However, 
post recently obtained an RGC document dated 2000 that 
indicates there is a "border area" under the exclusive 
administration of the JBC and which could not be subject to 
private ownership.  (NOTE: Thus allowing for negotiation and 
demarcation with neighboring countries.  END NOTE.)  Son 
Chhay also correctly pointed out that there is no law or 
regulation in Cambodia stating how far from the border people 
had the right to own private land.  However, the JBC 
reportedly uses the limit of one kilometer to define the 
"border area", according to Var Kim Hong.  Given this 
definition, all of the "encroached" land being defended by 
the SRP would be well within the RGC's purview and Rainsy 
would have no legal defense in the position that it was 
halting trespass on private land. 
 
COMMENT: 
------- 
 
¶7.  (SBU) With a number of other witnesses being called by 
the Svay Rieng border incident case, we can expect the 
provincial court to increase its public relations on the 
Rainsy case, now that the summons has been issued.  The next 
major decision point will be with the onset of a trial, 
assuming the investigating judge finds credence in the two 
charges.  Putting aside the charge of "breaking" the border 
posts (destruction of public property), Rainsy may not so 
easily defend against inciting discrimination based on race 
or nationality.  The potential minimum jail time is at least 
one year for either charge, even if Rainsy is found to be 
only an accomplice.  Some in SRP claim the government will 
seek the much stiffer penalty of five years.  Rainsy is doing 
nothing to calm the waters form his Paris venue, where he 
lashes out at the government and attracts opposition funding. 
 If Hun Sen sticks by his recent fit of pique not to pardon 
Rainsy until Rainsy has served two thirds of his sentence, 
the opposition may well have to readjust its leadership 
calibrations. 
ALLEGRA