via CAAI
2011-01-07
Cambodian police escorted seven Thai suspects back to prison on Thursday evening after more than ten hours of interrogation for the second time this week.
The group was arrested last month on charges of illegally entering Cambodia and making their way into a Cambodian military zone on the border.
The offences carry a maximum sentence of 18 months in prison. There was no indication from the court of when they would go on trial after the initial questioning.
Shortly after their arrest in December, Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejajjiva sent his foreign minister to Phnom Penh to seek their release, but the bid was rejected by the Cambodian government.
Most of the seven are members of the People’s Alliance for Democracy that has been pressing the government to take a tough stand with Cambodia over border disputes. The group has whipped up nationalistic sentiment over border disputes with Cambodia.
But suspects say they had only been inspecting the border.
The two countries hold a long-standing dispute over the 900-year-old Preah Vihear temple. Although the international court awarded the temple to Cambodia in 1962, Thailand claims much of the land surrounding it.
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