CAMBODIA

CASE N° CMBD/01 - SAM RAINSY
CASE N° CMBD/02 - SON SOUBERT
CASE N° CMBD/03 - POL HAM
CASE N° CMBD/04 - SON SANN
CASE N° CMBD/05 - KEM SOKHA

Resolution adopted without a vote by the Inter-Parliamentary Council
at its 167th session (Jakarta, 21 October 2000)

The Inter-Parliamentary Council,

Referring to the outline of the case of Mr. Sam Rainsy, Mr. Son Soubert, Mr. Pol Ham, Mr. Son Sann and Mr. Kem Sokha of Cambodia, as contained in the report of the Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians (CL/167/12(c)­R.1), and to the relevant resolution adopted at its 166th session (May 2000),

Taking account of the observations supplied by the Cambodian delegation to the 104th Conference of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (October 2000),

Recalling its consistent concern about the de facto impunity enjoyed by the perpetrators of the grenade attack of October 1995 against Mr. Kem Sokha, Mr. Pol Ham, Mr. Son Sann and Mr. Son Soubert, and that enjoyed by the perpetrators of the grenade attack on a demonstration in March 1997 led by Mr. Sam Rainsy in which a dozen people were killed and more than a hundred were injured,

Recalling that, as regards the attack of March 1997, the then Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General for Human Rights in Cambodia reported serious abnormalities in security arrangements for the demonstration, and that the attackers appeared to be acting with the complicity of the security personnel; recalling further that, according to a member of the Cambodian delegation to the 103rd Conference of the IPU, a second report on the attack had concluded that one of the attackers was a former member of the Cambodia People's Party (CPP) who had meanwhile joined Mr. Rainsy's party; an identikit likeness of that person had been prepared and international investigators were assisting the Cambodian authorities in the investigation,

Noting that the Cambodian delegation to the 104th Conference has undertaken to provide updated particulars of the results meanwhile obtained in the investigations into the attacks of October 1995 and March 1997,

Recalling further that, according to the sources, Mr. Kem Sokha has been accused of incitement to racial unrest and damage to public property following peaceful demonstrations which he led in protest against what the opposition viewed as electoral fraud, and that an arrest warrant was issued against him; the case has reportedly not been dropped but only suspended because he enjoys parliamentary immunity,

Recalling also that an arrest warrant, issued in September 1998 against Mr. Sam Rainsy, has reportedly never been officially withdrawn, and that the judicial proceedings seem to have been suspended but not dropped,

1. Thanks the Cambodian delegation for its cooperation and the observations it supplied; regrets, however, that the authorities have not responded to the many requests for information made to them; Looks forward to urgently receiving information on the stage reached in the investigations into the grenade attack of October 1995 and that of March 1997;
2. Reaffirms that combating impunity, one of the stated priorities of the present Government, is a prerequisite for the establishment of a democratic State based on the rule of law and respect for human rights;
3. Reiterates its wish to ascertain whether the judicial proceedings instituted in autumn 1998 against Mr. Kem Sokha and Mr. Sam Rainsy have been dropped or simply suspended on account of their parliamentary immunity, and to be provided with detailed information in this regard;
4. Requests the Secretary General to convey this decision to the competent authorities and seek the requested information;
5. Requests the Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians to continue examining this case and report to it at its next session (April 2001).

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