Cambodia: Treatment of supporters of Prince Norodom Ranariddh (1 April 1997 - June 1998)
| Publisher | Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada |
| Author | Research Directorate, Immigration and Refugee Board, Canada |
| Publication Date | 1 June 1998 |
| Citation / Document Symbol | KHM29537.E |
| Cite as | Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, Cambodia: Treatment of supporters of Prince Norodom Ranariddh (1 April 1997 - June 1998), 1 June 1998, KHM29537.E, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/3ae6ab8718.html [accessed 30 May 2023] |
| Disclaimer | This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. |
A 13 January 1998 AFP article states:
A large group of supporters of deposed Cambodian co-premier Prince Norodom Ranariddh have cancelled plans for a return home this week which was to have been monitored by the United Nations, UN officials said Tuesday. The group of 58 people, including the prince's cabinet director Ly Thuch, informed the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) late Monday that they would not be returning as scheduled, they said. The group, which has been in self-exile abroad fearing persecution since the violent ouster of the prince in July, was to have returned on Wednesday. No official reason for the cancellation was given, according to the UN officials, but many speculated the group had been frightened by several recent events.
Last Sunday, unidentified gunmen fired a silencer-equipped weapon at a journalist affiliated with the prince's royalist FUNCINPEC party, damaging his car, according to human rights officials. Earlier this month, a FUNCINPEC military police officer who had successfully appealed a drug smuggling conviction, was arrested at Phnom Penh airport while attempting to leave the country under UN protection....
More than 40 of Prince Ranariddh's supporters were executed following his ouster and the UN has expressed disappointment that the murders have not been thoroughly investigated.
A 22 April 1998 AFP article states that "nearly 100 of the prince's [Prince Norodom Ranariddh, son of King Norodom Sihanouk] supporters have been murdered since he was effectively ousted last July, according to human rights workers."
A 1 April 1998 AFP article states:
Cambodian police on Wednesday broke up a large demonstration of supporters of deposed co-premier Prince Norodom Ranariddh as he called for a political compromise to save the country...Armed police dispersed more than 1,000 people, many of them motorcycle taxi drivers, who had gathered in a park opposite the hotel which has been the prince's base since he returned Monday from nearly nine months in exile...A small number of anti-Ranariddh protesters began a shouting match with several hundred of the prince's supporters, grabbing their placards and ripping them up and burning them, witnesses said...The anti-Ranariddh protesters then left the park [following the arrival of police reinforcements] in the hands of his highly-charged supporters...
A 4 April 1998 Economist article states:
Two days before the prince's return, a senior officer of FUNCINPEC, the prince's party, was murdered. Many in the party and outside it suspect a political motive. Almost 100 FUNCINPEC supporters have been killed or have disappeared since the [July 1997] coup. Some of Mr. Hun Sen's security aides are strongly implicated in some of the cases.
A 16 April 1998 Far Eastern Economic Review article also mentions the fatal shooting of a supporter of the prince shortly before his March 1998 return and states that two supporters of the prince were "gunned down in the streets of the capital" and that "opposition leaders cite widespread political intimidation of their followers." Below a photograph is a caption which reads "police lead away a Ranariddh supporter who was beaten up by political opponents."
This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum.
References
Agence France Presse (AFP). 22 April 1998. "Deposed Cambodian Prince Says Return Dependent Upon Election Observers." (NEXIS)
_____. 1 April l 1998. "Cambodian Police Break Up Pro-Ranariddh Demonstration." (NEXIS)
_____. 13 January 1998. "Cambodia: Supporters of Ranariddh Cancel Plans to Return to Cambodia." (FBIS-EAS-98-012 13 Jan. 1998/WNC)
The Economist [London]. 4 April 1998. "Cambodia's Princely Homecoming."
Far Eastern Economic Review [Hong Kong]. 16 April 1998. Vol. 161, No. 16. Nate Thayer. "State of Fear: Intimidation is the Government's Pre-Election Strategy."
