No pardon for Thai pair in spying case, Cambodia says

Apr 6, 2011, 9:59 GMT

Phnom Penh - Two Thai nationals jailed in February on charges of spying will not be granted a royal pardon, the Cambodian government said Wednesday.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Koy Kuong said the Thai embassy in Phnom Penh has been informed. It had requested the pardon in March.

'We sent them the note to inform them that we respect our law, and according to our law the convict will serve at least two-thirds of the prison term,' Koy Kuong said.

'After that, the convict may be considered for a royal pardon.'

Thai political activist Veera Somkwamkit was jailed for eight years on charges of spying, crossing the border, and illegally entering a military base. His secretary, Ratree Taiputana, was sentenced to six years on the same charges.

Veera is a former leader of the nationalist People's Alliance for Democracy movement, also known as the yellow shirts.

Five other Thais who were arrested in the December 29 border-crossing incident were sentenced to nine months jail in January, eight months of which were suspended. They had been charged with crossing the border and illegally entering a military area.

The five, among them Panich Vikitsreth, a lawmaker of Thailand's ruling Democrat Party, were then deported from Cambodia since they had already spent a month in jail awaiting trial.

The seven maintained they had crossed the border accidentally.

Koy Kuong said that the case of Veera and Ratree was different from that of Siwarak Chothipong, a Thai national arrested in November 2009 and convicted of spying after being found guilty of passing on the flight details of the fugitive Thai ex-premier Thaksin Shinawatra.

Siwarak was freed days later in what the Cambodian government described at the time as a 'humanitarian gesture.'

Read more about Cambodia Diplomacy

Read more about Thailand