18 October 2016•Update: 18 October 2016
By Lauren Crothers
PHNOM PENH
As Cambodia’s opposition party leader approaches the first anniversary of his latest year in exile, he has proposed returning to the country and prison in exchange for the release of more than a dozen party officials and human rights activists.
The Cambodia Daily on Tuesday quoted Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) spokesman Yim Sovann as having said that Sam Rainsy would end his latest bout of self-imposed exile and go to prison for a years-old defamation case if he could “ensure all activists are released from prison”.
But any notion of success was shot down by the spokesman for the governing Cambodian People’s Party, Sok Eysan, who told the Daily that this is not how Cambodia's justice system works.
It is as if Rainsy “doesn’t know the law”, he added.
Rainsy's offer is not the first time he has said he would return and face the music.
In 2013, he vowed to return before elections, but was pardoned before he made any concrete plans to do so -- meaning he was able to return without fear of a prison sentence.
Rainsy is now in the position of continuing to lead the party while claiming persecution from abroad, or returning to a prison sentence, which may highlight his cause.
On Tuesday, asked if Rainsy was a more effective leader in exile, Sovann told AA that the party continues to make decisions as a cohesive unit.
“In the era of technology, the distance is not a matter of concern; if he’s inside or outside the country, we still work together,” he said.
On Tuesday, Rainsy’s Facebook page showed him speaking to CNRP youth activists in Siem Reap via conference call.
Sovann insisted that Rainsy’s situation is out of respect for what the party’s standing committee decided a year ago.
Faced with the prospect of a prison sentence after an old defamation case was reignited while he was on a trip abroad, Rainsy had told supporters he still intended to return.
“[B]ut he had to respect the decision of the standing committee of the party,” Sovann said.
"It decided to not allow him to come back in this present time. If he did, there would be more bloodshed. We want to avoid bloodshed and violence.”
The imprisoned officials and activists are behind bars on a range of charges, from insurrection to bribery.
