Cambodia’s King Norodom Sihamoni yesterday pardoned a Thai man jailed for seven years for spying on fugitive former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra during a visit to Phnom Penh, the government said.
Siwarak Chothipong, 31, an employee at the Cambodia Air Traffic Service, will be released from prison on Monday to his family and a delegation from Thailand’s main opposition party, a Cambodian government spokesman said.
His arrest last month deepened a diplomatic crisis over Cambodia’s appointment of Thaksin as an economic adviser and its refusal to extradite the ousted leader to Thailand when he traveled to Phnom Penh last month.
“The king just signed it this morning,” Cambodian government spokesman Khieu Kanharith said, adding that the royal pardon was issued after Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen requested it on Thursday.
“This morning Hun Sen said that if the man wants to continue working in Cambodia, he is welcome,” he said.
Siwarak, who faced a maximum prison term of 15 years, was sentenced to jail by a court in Phnom Penh on Tuesday and also fined 10 million riel (US$2,500) for supplying Thaksin’s flight schedule to the Thai embassy.
He 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.
Thai diplomats and the defendant’s mother, seen crying in court, attended the trial.
Cambodia expelled the first secretary of Thailand’s embassy in Phnom Penh after alleging that Siwarak had passed information to the diplomat. Thailand retaliated in kind hours later.
Both countries had earlier withdrew their 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 programs 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.
Thaksin rallied about 17,000 “Red Shirt” supporters in Bangkok on Thursday, criticizing Thailand’s “weakened democracy” in a video speech from an unknown location.
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