By MEAS SOKCHEA
The Phnom Penh Post
The Phnom Penh Post
Opposition leader Sam Rainsy (Photo: Ayuthyea, RFA)
OPPOSITION leader Sam Rainsy has announced that he will file complaints with foreign institutions accusing neighbouring countries of violating international law by encroaching into Cambodian territory.
Sam Rainsy came under fire from Cambodian and Vietnamese officials for uprooting border posts in Svay Rieng province during a Buddhist ceremony on October 25. Villagers claimed the Vietnamese had illegally shifted the posts onto Cambodian soil.
Speaking from Paris, he said his personal act of defiance was meant to bring the alleged Vietnamese incursions to light.
"I have now collected enough documents and witnesses to show that neighbouring countries are violating Khmers' land," he said.
"So I will file complaints about this to international organisations."
He did not say which organisations would receive his complaints, but added that the alleged Vietnamese acts were a violation of the 1991 Paris Peace Accords, to which both countries are signatories.
According to local media reports, Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung took the issue up in talks with Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister Men Sam An in Vietnam on Tuesday, describing Sam Rainsy's action as "subversive".
Vietnamese embassy spokesman Trinh Ba Cam said on Thursday that Sam Rainsy was free to file a complaint with international bodies, but that this would not prove the Vietnamese had acted wrongly.
"We do not care about his complaint," he said. "What he did was known to everyone. We have nothing to say."
Sam Rainsy came under fire from Cambodian and Vietnamese officials for uprooting border posts in Svay Rieng province during a Buddhist ceremony on October 25. Villagers claimed the Vietnamese had illegally shifted the posts onto Cambodian soil.
Speaking from Paris, he said his personal act of defiance was meant to bring the alleged Vietnamese incursions to light.
"I have now collected enough documents and witnesses to show that neighbouring countries are violating Khmers' land," he said.
"So I will file complaints about this to international organisations."
He did not say which organisations would receive his complaints, but added that the alleged Vietnamese acts were a violation of the 1991 Paris Peace Accords, to which both countries are signatories.
According to local media reports, Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung took the issue up in talks with Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister Men Sam An in Vietnam on Tuesday, describing Sam Rainsy's action as "subversive".
Vietnamese embassy spokesman Trinh Ba Cam said on Thursday that Sam Rainsy was free to file a complaint with international bodies, but that this would not prove the Vietnamese had acted wrongly.
"We do not care about his complaint," he said. "What he did was known to everyone. We have nothing to say."
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