via CAAI

By The Nation

Published on March 7, 2011

Preecha Somkwamkid said yesterday that his brother Veera, who has been convicted by Cambodia of trespassing and spying, had no time left to appeal the verdict, as he is struggling for his life against several illnesses.

Preecha visited the Cambodian jail on Friday and found that the political activist's condition was as critical as Democrat Party MP Panich Vikitsreth had claimed earlier.

Preecha refused to say what Veera had asked him to do but admitted it was too late to file an appeal. Facing fatal illnesses, his brother has only one option left and that is to seek a pardon from the Cambodian king.

He urged Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and Cambodian PM Hun Sen to help Veera and Ratri Pipattanapaiboon, who was also convicted in Cambodia on the same charges, because their families were greatly concerned about their health.

Abhisit responded to a remark by Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa, who is also the Asean chairman, about the Thai-Cambodian Joint Boundary Commission (JBC) meeting. He said Indonesia wanted both sides to hold bilateral talks but Thailand, though ready, still had to wait for Cambodia's stance.

Cambodia had announced it would not attend the meeting, but reports now have Hun Sen agreeing to join the JBC meeting in Jakarta.

Abhisit said Indonesia would explain to Thailand how it would dispatch a mission to the border. Though Thailand has agreed in principle with Indonesia's idea of sending observers, it has reservations over how and where they would be doing inspections.

"It's really a sensitive matter, so we're in the process of making all these details clear,'' he said.