Grenade Attack Remembered Amid Promised Reform
Opposition leaders Sam Rainsy and Kem Sokha joined dozens of monks and hundreds of supporters on Monday for a Pchum Ben ceremony at the memorial stupa in Phnom Penh honoring the 16 people who were killed by a grenade attack on an opposition rally in 1997. … Mr. Rainsy once sought to bring a case against Prime Minister Hun Sen in a U.S. court over his alleged involvement in the attack. But he dropped the case, much to criticism by supporters, as part of a deal with the government in 2005 that allowed Mr. Rainsy to return to the country from an earlier, self-imposed exile after charges against him were dropped in a Cambodian court. While the stupa is now a rallying point for the opposition, it is also a reminder of a culture of impunity within Cambodia’s courts that has left dozens of violent crimes—many of them believed to have been politically motivated—poorly investigated and unpunished. Following its worst showing at the ballot box since 1998 in July’s national election, along with the emergence of a popular and united opposition party in the CNRP, Mr. Hun Sen’s CPP has been talking reform since it pushed ahead with the formation of a new government last week. In an epic six-hour speech on Wednesday, Mr. Hun Sen promised a more transparent and accountable government, and said that serious reform of the judiciary was long overdue. Interior Minister Sar Kheng on Friday likewise emphasized the need for reform, telling government officials at a ceremony: “We need to change the form of management and leadership.” … Sam Pracheameanit, chief of cabinet for the Ministry of Justice, said that the investigation into the grenade attack was “ongoing,” and that as part of its reform mandate, the ministry would push the courts to find justice for victims of other violent crimes that have gone unpunished. … Should the government revisit violent crimes—with possible political motives—that have gone largely unprosecuted over the past two decades, it would find a long list of cases. … With so many cases left unresolved, opposition lawmaker Mu Sochua said that reforms of the judiciary must include the possibility that victims of these crimes and their families can request that further investigations into their cases be conducted.
Aun Pheap and Colin Meyn
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/grenade-attack-remembered-amid-promised-reform-43996/
