Thai national Siwarak Chothipong is escorted by Cambodian police at the Phnom Penh municipal court. He has been convicted and sentenced to seven years in prison for spying on fugitive former Thai premier Thaksin Shinawatra during his visit to Cambodia.
(AFP/Tang Chhin Sothy)
PHNOM PENH (AFP) – A Thai man was convicted and sentenced to seven years in prison Tuesday for spying on fugitive former Thai premier Thaksin Shinawatra during his visit to Cambodia.
Siwarak Chothipong, 31, an employee at the Cambodia Air Traffic Service, was also fined 10 million riel (2,500 dollars) for supplying Thaksin's flight schedule to the Thai embassy when the tycoon visited last month.
"The flight plan of His Excellency Thaksin was very important for the Thai government, but this information would have caused serious danger to Thaksin," said Phnom Penh Municipal Court judge Ke Sakhan.
During his trial, Sirawak, who faced a maximum sentence of 15 years in jail, asked the court to drop the charges. His defence lawyer said he would discuss with Sirawak whether to appeal the decision.
Chavanond Intarakomalyasut, secretary to the Thai foreign minister, said it would wait to see what help Siwarak's family required.
"The government is ready to help with whatever his mother and family decide. If they want an appeal, we will help with the process, or if they want to seek a royal amnesty, we will help," Chavanond said.
Siwarak denied stealing any documents and told the court that although he had informed the Thai embassy's first secretary by telephone of a flight arrival, he had not been aware that Thaksin was on board.
"I told (first secretary) Kamrob (Palawatwichai) that it is true that a private plane had landed, but the information I gave to him was not official because I did not know who was in the plane," Siwarak said during proceedings.
Thai diplomats and the defendant's mother, seen crying in court, attended the trial.
The prosecution said that Thaksin's plane had flown for about an hour over Thailand on its way to Cambodia from Mumbai, India.
Siwarak's arrest in Phnom Penh last month deepened a diplomatic crisis over Cambodia's appointment of Thaksin as an economic adviser and its refusal to extradite the ousted premier to Thailand.
Cambodia expelled the first secretary of Thailand's embassy in Phnom Penh after alleging that Siwarak had passed information to the diplomat. Thailand retaliated hours later.
Both countries earlier also withdrew their respective ambassadors in the dispute over Thaksin's appointment.
Thaksin was toppled in a coup in 2006 and is living abroad to avoid a two-year jail term for corruption, but has continued to stir up protests in his homeland.
Angered by his presence in Cambodia, Thailand put all talks and cooperation programmes on hold and tore up an oil and gas exploration deal signed during Thaksin's time in power.
Tensions were already high between Cambodia and Thailand following a series of deadly military clashes over disputed territory near an 11th century temple on the two countries' border.
No comments:
Post a Comment