Sam Rainsy Speaks in Lowell
Sam Rainsy, a Cambodian opposition leader, his wife Tioulong Saumura, and SRP legislators Tok Vanchan speak about an ongoing human-rights abuses in Cambodia.
Rainsy, formerly a member of the Cambodian National Assembly, has most recently been living in self-imposed exile in France. In March, the Cambodian Supreme Court upheld Rainsy's conviction on charges of inciting racial discrimination and uprooting border markings with neighboring Vietnam.
Shortly after the court's ruling, the National Assembly released a statement revoking Rainsy's "rights, privileges and membership as member of parliament."
The conviction upheld by the Supreme Court carries with it a two-year prison sentence and, when combined with an unrelated 10-year sentence for publishing a false map of the border with Vietnam.
Since 2009, Rainsy has maintained he was leading demonstrations on the Cambodian-Vietnamese border to protest what he believes is Vietnamese encroachment on Cambodian land.