Genocide Charges Focus of Second Phase of Khmer Rouge Trial

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30 July 2014, 11:59

A TV screen shows former Khmer Rouge leader Khieu Samphan (top-C), as Cambodians line up at the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) in Phnom Penh, 30 July 2014. The Trial Chamber of the (ECCC) announced an initial hearing against the former Khmer Rouge leaders Khieu Samphan and Nuon Chea on 30 July 2014, who are charged with genocide, crimes against humanity and grave breaches of the 1949 Geneva Conventions. EPA/MAK REMISSA

PHNOM PENH (DPA) — The tribunal trying two surviving leaders of the Khmer Rouge held a first hearing Wednesday into charges relating mainly to genocide.

The hearing marks the start of the second phase of the trial of the two leaders: Nuon Chea, 87, known as Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot's Brother Number 2, and Khieu Samphan, 83, former head of state.

A verdict in the first phase – relating primarily to the mass evacuation of Phnom Penh by the Khmer Rouge in 1975 – is due on August 7.

"Charges related to genocide, forced marriages and rape, treatment of Buddhists, internal purges, targeting of former Khmer Republic officials, four security centres, three worksites and one cooperative" will be heard during the trial's second phase, according to the website of the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC).

The hybrid national and United Nations tribunal was set up in 2006 to try the worst crimes that occurred under Pol Pot's ultra-Marxist regime between 1975 and 1979.

The period saw an estimated 1.7 million Cambodians executed or die from starvation and overwork in a bid to create an agrarian utopia.

So far the body has prosecuted one individual, Kaing Guek Eav, alias Duch, the former prison chief of Khmer Rouge torture center S-21, who received a life sentence in 2011.

Democrat Urges Investigation Of Pheu Thai Clocks, Amulets

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Khaosod English

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29 July 2014, 20:07

Pro-government supporters stage protests in front of the office of National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC), 13 March 2014

BANGKOK — A prominent member of Thailand’s Democrat Party has urged authorities to investigate the former ruling Pheu Thai Party over purchases of expensive amulets and digital clocks.

Former Democrat Party MP Watchara Petchthong urged Thailand’s anti-graft agency to examine a Pheu Thai politician's failure to disclose his possession of two expensive amulets and the Pheu Thai-led Parliament's decision to purchase 30 million baht worth of digital clocks last year.

He stated his grievances in a letter to the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) today.

According to the letter, Mr. Watchara believes Mana Kongwutthipanya, an MP candidate of Pheu Thai Party, should be prosecuted by the NACC for deliberately hiding his ownership of two rare amulets in the financial disclosing document he submitted to the NACC.

The two amulets, Phra Prue and Somdet Wat Rakang, are worth more than 34 million baht.

Mr. Watchara also urged the NACC to speed up the investigation of pricy digital clocks installed in the House of Parliament last year. A total of 238 clocks were installed throughout the building while the Pheu Thai Party was in power, costing the state approximately 15 million baht.

Mr. Watchara also called upon the NACC to hold former Division of Special Investigation (DSI) chief Tharit Pengdith accountable for allegedly neglecting to investigate corruption in the former government’s rice-pledging scheme.

The Democrat politician claimed Mr. Pengdith turned a blind eye to the program’s rampant corruption and rejected the Democrat Party's request to launch an investigation into the scheme in 2013.

"If Mr. Tharit had accepted the rice mortgage case as special case in 2013, the losses [to the state] wouldn't be this great," Mr. Watchara said.

NACC deputy secretary-general Witthaya Arkompitak accepted the complaint and said the Commission will deliberate on the matter.

Last week, the NACC found former Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra guilty of failing to prevent corruption in the controversial rice-pledging program.

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Philippine Army Hunting Islamic Militants Who Killed 23 Civilians

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29 July 2014, 16:14

MANILA (DPA) — The Philippine military on Tuesday launched operations to hunt Islamist militants who killed 23 people including children as they were celebrating the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

Eleven people were also injured in Monday's ambush on Jolo island, 1,000 kilometres south of Manila.

"We cannot allow the perpetrators of this gruesome crime to go free," said Lieutenant Colonel Ramon Zagala, a military spokesman.

The victims, including some village security volunteers, were travelling in two vehicles to a mosque for prayers when they were ambushed by suspected Muslim Abu Sayyaf rebels.

Authorities said the attack could be retaliation against the volunteers for supporting the government. Others said it could have been the result of a feud between a family of the victims and an Abu Sayyaf commander.

Army Raids Mo Chit Motorcycle Taxi Stand

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29 July 2014, 16:14

BANGKOK — Military officers raided a motorcycle taxi stand near Mo Chit BTS Station today following complaints about taxi drivers charging extortionate fares.

Col. Songwit Nunbhakdi, commander of 11th Infantry Division, led the operation as part of the military junta's campaign to ensure fair motorcycle taxi prices for the public.

Drivers from the Mo Chit motorcycle taxi win [stand] are notorious for aggressively touting their services and extorting customers – behavior that Col. Songwit vowed to eradicate in a meeting with representatives from thewin today.

Last week, two drivers from the motorcycle taxi win were arrested for allegedly charging a woman more than 900 baht to bring her and a one piece of luggage home. It’s rare for a motorcycle taxi ride to cost more than 100 baht.

"The service to the people has to be appropriate," Col. Songwit said at today’s meeting. "They cannot mob or threaten the customers. The customers have the right to choose the services [they prefer]."

To crackdown on these practices, Col. Songwit has asked the BTS staff to install CCTV cameras in the area. Soldiers will also be stationed around the station "everyday" to ensure that no illegal actions take place, the colonel added.

Security officers did not make any arrests during their raid on the motorcycle taxi win today.

Since staging the coup against the elected government on 22 May, the ruling National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) has launched a number of programs aimed at improving the standard of public transportation, presumably to win support of the population.

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Cambodia 'Understands Thai Coup'

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29 July 2014, 16:14

BANGKOK — The Cambodian government "understands" why the Thai military needed to stage a coup against the elected government last month, Thai officials say.

Gen. Tea Banh, Cambodia’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defence, met with Thai Ministiry of Defence officials, including Deputy Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Defence Gen. Songtham Chokekanapitak, in Bangkok yesterday.

The Cambodian Prime Minister, Hun Sen, understands the situation in Thailand very well and praises Thailand’s military junta for its effort to solve many problems in the Kingdom, Gen. Banh said, according official transcripts provided by state media agencies.

Gen. Banh also reportedly told Gen. Songtham that he was honoured to be invited to visit Thailand and believes the junta's actions will lead to "peace and order."

The Thai Ministry of Defence invited Gen. Banh and his delegates to Bangkok in an effort to strengthen ties between the two countries. It was the first time high-ranking officials from Cambodia and Thailand have publicly met since the Thailand’s National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) seized power on 22 May.

The relationship between the two nations has been a subject of great speculation, as the Cambodian Prime Minister, Mr. Hun Sen, is known to have close ties to the former Thai government.

Many activists and politicians allied to the deposed government also fled to Cambodia in the wake of the military coup. Some of them, such as former Minister of Interior Affairs Jarupong Ruengsuwan, vowed to undermine the NCPO by forming an anti-coup organisation in exile.

However, Mr. Hun Sen has confirmed that he will not allow the government-in-exile to take root in Cambodia, suggesting that he is looking to establish cordial relations with Thailand’s military rulers.

Last month the Cambodian monarch, Norodom Sihamoni, also granted a royal pardon to Thai ultra-nationalist activist Veera Somkwamkit who had been held in Cambodian prison for three and a half years for trespassing into Cambodian territory during a campaign to "reclaim" a piece of land under dispute by the two governments.

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Army Raids Mo Chit Motorcycle Taxi Stand

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Khaosod English

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29 July 2014, 16:14

BANGKOK — Military officers raided a motorcycle taxi stand near Mo Chit BTS Station today following complaints about taxi drivers charging extortionate fares.

Col. Songwit Nunbhakdi, commander of 11th Infantry Division, led the operation as part of the military junta's campaign to ensure fair motorcycle taxi prices for the public.

Drivers from the Mo Chit motorcycle taxi win [stand] are notorious for aggressively touting their services and extorting customers – behavior that Col. Songwit vowed to eradicate in a meeting with representatives from the win today.

Last week, two drivers from the motorcycle taxi win were arrested for allegedly charging a woman more than 900 baht to bring her and a one piece of luggage home. It’s rare for a motorcycle taxi ride to cost more than 100 baht.

"The service to the people has to be appropriate," Col. Songwit said at today’s meeting. "They cannot mob or threaten the customers. The customers have the right to choose the services [they prefer]."

To crackdown on these practices, Col. Songwit has asked the BTS staff to install CCTV cameras in the area. Soldiers will also be stationed around the station "everyday" to ensure that no illegal actions take place, the colonel added.

Security officers did not make any arrests during their raid on the motorcycle taxi win today.

Since staging the coup against the elected government on 22 May, the ruling National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) has launched a number of programs aimed at improving the standard of public transportation, presumably to win support of the population.

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Cambodia 'Understands Thai Coup'

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Khaosod English

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29 July 2014, 16:14