PARIS: A French court trying two ex-bodyguards for former Cambodian prime minister Hun Sen over a 1997 massacre postponed its verdict due Friday after prosecutors asked for time to investigate new evidence.
The two main suspects, Hing Bun Heang, now 68, and Huy Piseth, 69, have been on trial in absentia, charged over a 1997 grenade attack on a leading opposition figure who is a French citizen.
Several grenades detonated on March 30, 1997 during an opposition rally of around 200 people in Phnom Penh denouncing state corruption.
At least 16 people were killed and 150 injured.
Sam Rainsy, a former finance minister and leading opposition figure, was the target of the attack that the NGO Human Rights Watch has called “an open wound in Cambodia.” He was lightly injured.
The two suspects reside in Cambodia. Neither has asked for legal representation.
“I have learnt much from witnesses who had never been questioned before,” said lead prosecutor Isabelle Poinso. “We need to shine a light on some remaining grey areas.”
The court approved her request to suspend proceedings, to resume at a later date.
As the trial got under way in Paris on Wednesday, the defendants’ box was empty as was the bench for the defense lawyers. But Rainsy and his wife were both present.
In 2020 France issued an arrest warrant for both men on suspicion of attempted murder, for which they could be sentenced to life in prison.
Rainsy, 76, who lives in exile in France and has had French citizenship since 1974, in November 2000 filed a legal complaint over the incident, triggering the investigation.
Two decades later, the French judiciary came to the conclusion — backed by findings from the United States’ FBI and the United Nations, among others — that Hing Bun Heang had recruited the attackers, and that Huy Piseth had facilitated their escape.
Hun Sen, a former army general who was Cambodia’s longest-serving head of government, first became prime minister in 1985 aged 32.
He currently serves as president of Cambodia’s Senate.
French court delays Cambodian 1997 massacre trial verdict
https://arab.news/gnbzp
French court delays Cambodian 1997 massacre trial verdict
- The two main suspects, Hing Bun Heang, now 68, and Huy Piseth, 69, have been on trial in absentia
- Several grenades detonated on March 30, 1997 during an opposition rally of around 200 people in Phnom Penh denouncing state corruption
Supporters of Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado march in cities worldwide
- Machado went into hiding and has not been seen in public since January
CARACAS: Supporters of Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado demonstrated Saturday in several cities worldwide to commemorate her Nobel Peace Prize win ahead of the prestigious award ceremony next week.
Dozens of people marched through Madrid, Utrecht, Buenos Aires, Lima and other cities in support of Machado, whose organization wants to use the attention gained by the award to highlight Venezuela’s democratic aspirations. The organization expected demonstrations in more than 80 cities around the world on Saturday.
The crowd in Lima carried portraits of Machado and demanded a “Free Venezuela.” With the country’s yellow, blue and red flag draped over their backs or emblazoned on their caps, demonstrators clutched posters that read, “The Nobel Prize is from Venezuela.”
Venezuelan Verónica Durán, who has lived in Lima for eight years, said Machado’s Nobel Peace Prize is celebrated because “it represents all Venezuelans, the fallen and the political prisoners in their fight to recover democracy.”
The gatherings come at a critical point in the country’s protracted crisis as the administration of US President Donald Trump builds up a massive military deployment in the Caribbean, threatening repeatedly to strike Venezuelan soil. Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro is among those who see the operation as an effort to end his hold on power, and the opposition has only added to this perception by reigniting its promise to soon govern the country.
“We are living through times where our composure, our conviction, and our organization are being tested,” Machado said in a video message shared Tuesday on social media. “Times when our country needs even more dedication because now all these years of struggle, the dignity of the Venezuelan people, have been recognized with the Nobel Peace Prize.”
Machado won the award Oct. 10 for her struggle to achieve a democratic transition in the South American nation, winning recognition as a woman “who keeps the flame of democracy burning amid a growing darkness.”
Machado, 58, won the opposition’s primary election and intended to run against Maduro in last year’s presidential election, but the government barred her from running for office. Retired diplomat Edmundo González, who had never run for office before, took her place.
The lead-up to the July 28, 2024, election saw widespread repression, including disqualifications, arrests and human rights violations. It all increased after the country’s National Electoral Council, which is stacked with Maduro loyalists, declared him the winner despite credible evidence to the contrary.
González sought asylum in Spain last year after a Venezuelan court issued a warrant for his arrest.
Meanwhile, Machado went into hiding and has not been seen in public since Jan. 9, when she was briefly detained after joining supporters in what ended up being an underwhelming protest in Caracas, Venezuela’s capital. The following day, Maduro was sworn in for a third six-year term.
