Thai activist pardoned by Cambodia arrives home

BANGKOK, July 2 (TNA) - A detained Thai activist in Cambodia, Veera Somkwamkid, who was jailed for nearly four years and was released on Tuesday in a royal pardon granted by Cambodian King Norodom Sihamoni has arrived home safely. Veera, who was charged with trespassing and spying on the Cambodian soil and had been imprisoned in the neighbouring country for three years and six months, was freed during a two-day official visit to Phnom Penh by Acting Thai Foreign Minister Sihasak Phuangketkeow from July 1-2. Sihasak told journalists that during his meeting with Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen on Tuesday, he sought an early release of Veera, but insisting that Thailand has no policy on interfering with the Cambodian justice system. Sihasak revealed he conveyed a request by Thai Army and National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) Chief General Prayuth Chan O-cha that Phnom Penh reconsider Veera's jail term, taking into account factual elements, human rights and bilateral relations between Bangkok and Phnom Penh. According to the acting Thai foreign minister, the Cambodian Premier then agreed to propose a royal decree on the early release of Veera, dated July 1, for the Cambodian King's approval--although Veera, based on the Cambodian law, needed to serve at least 5 years in prison before a royal pardon could be granted. After Veera was royally pardoned, the acting Thai foreign minister acknowledged, he asked the Thai Ambassador to Cambodia and a team of officials at the Thai Embassy in Phnom Pehn to immediately receive the leading Thai activist, under the yellow-clad Thai Patriots Network (TPN), from a Cambodian prison. Veera, meanwhile, arrived in Thailand at around 11:30am on Wednesday, together with the acting Thai foreign minister, who is also Permanent Secretary for Foreign Affairs, and other Thai officials amid a warm welcome by his relatives and friends. The TPN core leader was charged with trespassing and espionage in the Cambodian territory in December 2010 and he was later sentenced to an eight-year imprisonment by a Cambodian court. (TNA)