Saturday, March 19, 2011

Cambodia opposition leader loses parliamentary seat




PHNOM PENH — Cambodia's opposition leader has been stripped of his role as a member of parliament after exhausting his appeals against a prison sentence, according to a statement seen by AFP on Wednesday.

Sam Rainsy was last year handed a two-year jail term in absentia for inciting racial discrimination and uprooting border markings with neighbouring Vietnam in a 2009 incident, a case his lawyer said was politically motivated.

More here: AFP


Rainsy stripped of MP status

Embattled opposition leader Sam Rainsy’s position in the National Assembly has been terminated following a string of losses in his long-running legal saga.

In a proclamation dated Tuesday, National Assembly President Heng Samrin said Sam Rainsy’s criminal convictions had rendered him ineligible to serve as a lawmaker based on the Kingdom’s Law on the Status of Parliamentarians.

“His Excellency Sam Rainsy has completely lost his rights, prerogatives and membership as a parliamentarian of Kampong Cham provincial constituency in the fourth legislative mandate,” the proclamation states.

“This proclamation has judicial power from the day of signature onward.”

More here: Phnom Penh Post

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