Published: 14/12/2009 at 10:47 AM
Sivarak Chutipong (right), who was convicted last week of spying on Thaksin Shinawatra last month and pardoned on Friday, was released from Prey Sar prison on Monday in a ceremony held at Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen's (left) residence in Phnom Penh.
Cambodia on Monday released a Thai engineer convicted and then pardoned for spying on fugitive former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, witnesses and officials said.
The release of Sivarak Chutipong came as Thaksin made another visit to Cambodia that could inflame diplomatic tensions between Bangkok and Phnom Penh. Thaksin visited Mr Sivarak briefly in prison on Sunday.Mr Sivarak, 31, a Thai employee of the Thai-Cambodia Air Traffic Services, left Prey Sar prison early in the morning in a convoy of three cars after receiving a pardon from King Norodom Sihamoni on Friday, witnesses said.
Sivarak was initially sentenced to seven years in jail for supplying Thaksin's flight details to the Thai embassy when the former prime minister visited Cambodia last month.
After his release, Sivarak was taken to a ceremony at the home of Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen where he was presented with his signed royal pardon.
"From now on Sivarak has freedom and can carry out any business,'' Hun Sen said in front of reporters at the ceremony, which was also attended by Sivarak's mother and members of Thailand's main opposition party.
Thaksin, who has arrived back in Cambodia, was not present but was expected at Hun Sen's home later in the daySivarak's mother Simarak na Nakhon Phanom said she had talked with Thaksin on Sunday.
She said Thaksin asked her son to tell him what actually happened before he was arrested. Mr Sivarak insisted Kamrob Palawatwichai, the first secretary at the Thai embassy in Phnom Penh, had asked him for Thaksin's flight information.
"I don't think Sivarak will return to work in Cambodia again. Today, he'll return to Thailand and will discuss the details of the case," Mrs Simarak said.
Mr Sivarak was expected to arrive in Bangkok on a flight from Phnom Penh due at 4.55pm.
Mr Sivarak said the first person he would like to meet after arriving in Bangkok on Monday evening was Mr Kamrob.
"I want to ask Mr Kamrob why he wanted me to find the information [on Thaksin's flight]," Mr Sivarak said, according to news reports.
He insisted his case was not politically motivated, as many people suspect.
"How can they think of that? Throughout my 32 days in Prey Sar prison I did not sleep well any night and I was not happy because everything had changed," he said.
However, Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya's secretary Chavanond Intarakomalyasut said, Mr Sivarak had never said he handed any documents regarding Thaksin's flight schedule to Thai authorities.
"I don't think that there's a secret here. In this case, we were only inquiring about [Thaksin's flight information]," Mr Chavanond said.
"Mr Sivarak has the right to hold a press conference and if the things he says are factual there will be no problem and there's nothing to hide."
Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva called on all sides to stop magnifying the the case.
"I believe Mr Sivarak does not want the case to cause more problems," Mr Abhisit said. "I would like this problem to conclude now."
He said the opposition could raise this issue in a no-confidence motion if it so wished. All cabinet members would be ready to give explanations
He insisted his government had not attempted to steal confidential information from Cambodia.
All the problems surrounding Mr Sivarak's case were not caused by the Thai government, he said.
On Cambodia's affirmation it would not extradite Thaksin, the prime minister said there would be discussion within the government and government agencies, but there would be no immediate improvement in Thai-Cambodia relations.
Siwarak's arrest deepened a diplomatic crisis over Cambodia's appointment of Thaksin as an economic adviser, and its refusal to extradite the ousted former leader to Thailand when he travelled to Phnom Penh last month.
Thaksin, who was ousted in a coup in 2006 and faces a two-year jail term in Thailand for corruption, landed in Phnom Penh Sunday.
The Thai government said it would press a new for his extradition, but Cambodian foreign ministry spokesman Koy Kuong said such a demand would be "just a waste of time''.
Thaksin is living abroad, mostly in Dubai, to avoid the jail term handed down by the Thai Supreme Court in absentia in September 2008 for conflict of interest while in office over the purchase of state land by his wife..
Thaksin won two elections in Thailand and remains an influential political figure at home, stirring up mass protests by his red-shirt supporters against the current government.
