PM thanks Cambodia for assisting Thai detainees

BANGKOK, January 10 (TNA) - Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra thanks the Cambodian government for assisting two Thai political activists jailed in the neighbouring country. Yingluck told journalists on Thursday that a Thai woman, Ratree Pipattanapaiboon, will be released early next month and a Thai man, Veera Somkwamkid, has now been commuted his jail term to six months, and that she has been informed by Phnom Penh of the development and she is waiting for its official announcement. Yingluck extended her thankfulness to Phnom Penh, on behalf of the Thai government, for its care and coordination for the pardon and the commutation for the Thai people, saying that whenever she talked to Cambodian authorities, she had sought a special pardon for the two Thai nationals, and that the Cambodian authorities' action appears to be in response to good relations between Thailand and Cambodia. According to the Thai prime minister, she will continue to seek further assistance for Veera, as Cambodian authorities have told her that they will try to help on special occasions. The two Thai detainees were arrested by Cambodian authorities on December 29, 2010 on charges of espionage and illegal entry into the Cambodian soil. In early 2011, Ratree and Veera were sentenced by a Cambodian court to a six-year and an eight-year imprisonment respectively and they have been, since then, jailed at the Prey Sar Prison on the outskirts of the Cambodian capital. Regarding to a planned protest by supporters of the People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD), a strong Thai civic group, in Thailand's northeastern Si Sa Ket Province from January 12-13 against Cambodian attempts to occupy an unsettled area surrounding the Preah Vihear Temple, the Thai premier noted that she has ordered security authorities to control the situation although there has been no sign of violence. Meanwhile, Thai Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Suraong Tovichakchaikul, who is visiting Pakistan, told TNA that Ratree will be released on February 1 when there will be the royal funeral of the late Cambodian King Norodom Sihanouk, saying that the move represents a good sign of bilateral relations between Bangkok and Phnom Penh. (TNA)