The defence lawyer of fugitive politician Seam Pluk, founder of unrecognised Cambodian National Heart Party (CNHP), has requested the Phnom Penh Municipal Court to revoke the warrant of arrest and instead issue a warrant of summons for him to appear before the judge for questioning.

The request was made after Pluk, who is in hiding, recently vowed to be present before the investigating judge, Le Sokha, for questioning amid fear of him being sentenced to prison for the alleged use of forged thumbprints to register the party.

Chuong Choungy, one of Pluk’s lawyers, has recently sent a letter to Court director Taing Sunlay, asking to revoke the warrant of arrest issued on April 4 and instead issue a warrant of summons for  Pluk to appear in court.

Sunlay told Khmer Times yesterday that he had received the letter from Pluk’s lawyer and had forwarded it to Judge Sokha.

When asked whether the warrant of arrest against Pluk is still valid or not since the authorities concerned have failed to produce him before the judge by April 25 as mentioned in the warrant, Sunlay said the judge will decide on it.

“Yes, the warrant is invalid now but I am not sure whether the judge will re-issue another warrant,” he added.

Judge Sokha early this month issued a warrant of arrest for Pluk after he failed to appear before the court over the alleged use of forged thumbprints in a bid to register the CNHP for the June 5 commune elections.

The judge also ordered authorities to arrest Pluk and bring him before the judge for questioning by April 25, but Pluk remained at large as of yesterday.

Meanwhile, deputy prosecutor Seng Hieng issued a warrant to summon Pluk as a “suspect” to appear before the court on March 22 after the National Police reported that CNHP had “malicious intent” by using duplicated and faked thumbprints, and forged identities to increase its membership numbers.

But Choungy said police had sent summons to Pluk at the wrong address and as a result, his client never received any of the summonses directly.

He said Pluk’s address is Boeng Keng Kang district’s Tuol Svay Prey I commune, Phnom Penh.

According to Choungy, the judge did not send the warrant to Pluk’s address but relied on the police report and issued the warrant of arrest against Pluk.

“The investigation judge’s decision is not appropriate to carry out the procedure,” he said. “Seam Pluk did not intend to avoid appearing in court.”

The court has charged Pluk with two separate counts of “forgery of a document” and the “use of a forged document” under Articles 626, 627, and 628 of the Criminal Code. Nearly 40 other CNHP activists and officials also face legal charges after the court issued warrants to summon them.

In his recent interview, Pluk maintained his innocence and sought a compromise in the hope that the case would be dropped.

He also criticised the court’s action against him and other CNHP activists, claiming that the cases are “politically motivated”.

“In order to improve the socio-political environment, I urge the ruling party and the authorities to drop all unreasonable political charges through the judiciary against all politicians and political activists,” he said. “All parties must respect the law and they should also be allowed to exercise their rights and freedom properly.”

But Ministry of Interior blamed the lawsuits on CNHP was because it refused to accept and filed a complaint to the Supreme Court against the decision not to recognise it in November. This resulted in a countersuit by the ministry.

“This is not a politically motivated case. It is a crime of forging fingerprints,” said the ministry spokesman General Khieu Sopheak. “If the court finds that they falsified documents, the court will charge them.”

The Supreme Court in December rejected the party’s appeal against the ministry, noting that the decision dated November 26 was correct.

• Tags: CNHP, Seam Pluk